The Best Birthday Present
by Katluvssport
Summary: In two universes, Harry Potter and Lily and James Potter make a wish. A wish that pulls Harry across to an alternate universe where he died, but not his parents and he has several siblings. He cannot settle down with a war going on. CHAPTER 6 FINALLY UP!
1. Chapter 1

Lily Potter examined the cover of her favourite photo album. It was July 31st, 1998. Today would have been her eldest son's eighteenth birthday. She sighed, as tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear, while the other hand traced the golden lettering on the cover. Her eyes followed her finger as she read the title.

_HARRY JAMES POTTER_

_Born 31st July 1980_

The album had been intended to track her little boy's journey through life, though she had never filled it. He had died when he was fifteen months old. Her hands stroked the soft leather, her mind too frightened to look at her son again. It was always so painful.

"Mum?" a soft voice came from the doorway. Lily looked up to see her youngest daughter, ten-year-old Sophie, watching her carefully.

"Hello, Sophie," Lily said softly. She placed the album on the couch next to her. "Why aren't you playing with Emily and Rose?"

"Emily asked Rose to show her the plans for Rose's next prank," Sophie said matter-of-factly. "And I don't want to get involved. Plus, Dad's moping around the place like… well, anyway, he's moping, and I saw you sneak in here, so I – I followed."

Lily smiled at her little girl, or as much of a smile as she could muster.

"Why are you so sad?" Sophie asked settling herself on the couch next to her mother. She rested her head against Lily, so Lily could stroke the girl's hair, which was as red as her mother's. Then Sophie's eyes rested on the album. "Oh…" she breathed.

"Today would be Harry's eighteenth birthday," Lily wrapped her arms around Sophie. The child snuggled into her mother's arms. "Look with me, darling?" Lily nodded to the album. Sophie's hand stretched out towards the cover. Her fingers traced her big brother's name, just as her mother had done.

"Okay, Mummy," she nodded. Lily smiled and placed the album on her lap. Sophie opened it slowly. The first picture, a large portrait of baby Harry, looked up at them. Harry, then only a few months old, giggled at his mother and sister, reaching towards them. Lily felt tears well up behind her eyes, as she smiled at her son, resisting the urge to reach to him as well. Blinking back the tears, she turned the page. A photograph of Harry with his parents, Sirius and Remus, when Harry was just a couple of hours old, was positioned neatly in the top corner. '_July 31st 1980. Baby Harry James Potter is born._' Lily's elegant script was beneath the photo. She continued through, unable to hold back tears, as they ran down her cheeks. She gasped at the picture of Harry's christening, causing Sophie to squeeze her hand. She felt her mind glaze over a she stared at picture after picture. Harry's first – and only, the words flashed into her mind – Christmas, his Easter, and birthday, and other little snapshots of moments in his life. When he first walked, ate solid food, smiled and receiving his stuffed stag. Then a picture of him speaking his first word to Lily. "Mama".

Lily let out a small sob. Sophie whipped around and hugged her mother tightly. Lily knew they were almost at the end. She turned the page. It was the last one. Down at the bottom, was a small picture of Harry in his playpen, clutching his stag, while laughing and pointing to a pumpkin head, in which a candle was producing dancing light. It was dark outside. '_Evening, Halloween 1981. Half and hour prior._' Lily heard Sophie gasp. The little girl didn't need to ask what 'half and hour prior' meant. It was half an hour before the attack that had ended in the murder of her brother. Lily clutched the book, a choked sob pushing its way out of her mouth. A single tear fell onto a playful little Harry's face. The little boy in the picture didn't even notice.

(--)

James Potter was moody. His sons, Andy and Nick, were irritating him with their cheerful manner. Cheerful. Today. James wanted to scream at the world they weren't allowed to be cheerful. How could they, when his firstborn son had been so tragically slaughtered nearly seventeen years ago? And especially since today would have been Harry's eighteenth birthday. He kicked the wall in his study. The family portrait above the mantelpiece wobbled. James glared at it. No Harry. Why did Voldemort have to kill his son? Why not another innocent toddler? James froze as this angry though swept through his mind. _No,_ he thought. _Nobody deserved to die. No innocent toddlers should be killed._

"DAMN!" James yelled suddenly. "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL MY BABY?"

He collapsed into his chair, sobbing. He would eternally regret making Peter his Secret Keeper. The rat and his master had arrived at Godric's Hollow, where the family were hiding. Voldemort and James had duelled, as had Peter and Lily. Peter faked Lily taking him down, and Lily had run for her son. James hadn't noticed Peter aiming a stunner at him. He came round ten minutes later, and charged up the stairs to see Peter holding Lily at knifepoint whilst Voldemort calmly held his son, tauntingly cooing him, even though Harry was screaming. James tried to summon the boy, but Voldemort was too fast. Harry zoomed into James' arms – with a gaping wound across his throat. James never saw the knife. James had never forgiven himself. Why didn't he stun the evil wizard? Lily had constantly tried to tell her husband he wasn't to blame, and generally he accepted it. But there were two says each year, when he simply couldn't cope. July 31st and October 31st. Nick, his youngest son, had eloquently said "Harry's birthday and death day." James couldn't disagree, but he had been shocked to hear such words coming from a six-year-old's mouth. He massaged his temples, trying fruitlessly to avert his thoughts. A small sob escaped his lips, and he fell forward, onto the desk, his head landing on his arms. He didn't even try to halt the tears.

(--)

Harry Potter stared around the battlefield. His wand hung limply by his side as he gazed at the many bodies. It was a miracle none of his friends were among the dead. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Remus and all the Weasleys had survived. Scarcely any of the Death Eaters were alive still. The Order had successfully surrounded Voldemort's stronghold in Little Hangleton. When the Death Eaters attacked, the Aurors arrived, and the Death Eaters were outnumbered, mainly because not all were in the Riddle House and the Order had cut of all means of communication. Harry had taken on Voldemort when he had eventually emerged. When he first attempted to kill, Voldemort laughed and informed Harry there was no chance of Harry succeeding. That was when Harry dropped the first Horcrux. Marvolo's ring. Voldemort had been shocked, but still held his sneer. Quickly, Harry dropped the locket, the cup and the diary. Voldemort went deathly pale. Then Harry removed a sapphire earring. Rowena Ravenclaw's. Clearly, it was then Voldemort realised he had to kill Harry instantly. He threw the curse. Harry summoned Nagini at the same moment. The curse hit the snake, destroying the final Horcrux. Harry shuddered, thinking of Voldemort's incessant rage after that. Voldemort had attacked Harry mightily and Harry had scarcely managed to stay on his feet. Voldemort then attempted to strangle Harry. Harry remembered the horror he felt as Voldemort approached him. The Dark Lord's fingers curled around Harry's throat and both screamed. Voldemort let go instantly. His hands were blistering, just like Quirrell. Harry watched in shock as the Dark Lord tried again to kill him. Both hands blistered. Harry knew from experience that Voldemort would try to escape. Harry drew his wand and forced the curse to continue across the Dark Lord's body. Harry poured all his love into the wand. He used his mother's love to make the blistering cover Voldemort. He used his father's love to give him strength. He created an unbreakable connection. And Voldemort disintegrated.

"Harry," a soft female voice came from behind him.

"Ginny," he replied, turning around to see the girl he had let go to protect. Her red hair was braided and immaculate. She didn't look like a survivor of a brutal war. Her blue robes didn't have a single crease and her face bore no scars or cuts, though Harry knew she had duelledRodolphus and RabastanLestrange.

"It's over," she said simply. He nodded, a sad smile creeping across his face. "Mum and Dad want us home."

Harry snorted. It signalled a return to normality, Mr and Mrs Weasley calling them home.

"What?" Ginny demanded. "It's not like you can go home to your parents!"

Harry froze. "Ginny…" he said.

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry," she gasped.

'You have no idea what I'd give to be with them," Harry said. "I wish I could be with them. I wish I could have a family."

(--)

'I wish we could have Harry back,' Lily murmured, brushing the teardrop off the photograph. 'I wish we could be a family again.'

(--)

'I wish Harry could be with us,' James muttered to himself. 'I wish our family would be complete again.'

(--)

Ginny Weasley got the shock of her life, when Harry Potter vanished from the battlefield in a burst of golden light.


	2. Chapter 2

Hi everyone! Here's Chapter 2 for you, and Chapter 3 is underway. Chapter 1 has undergone a little editing (I followed some suggestions in reviews, and I'm sorry the chapter even needed editing!) so I hope I get reviews exclaiming how perfect thelayout and grammar is(yeah, I _hope_ - key word there, you see?)! Well, ENJOY!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry crumpled to the ground. He lay still listening carefully for any noise. Experience told him not to move, for fear of alerting attention to himself. It didn't cross his mind that it was pointless, seeing as he had just fallen to the ground. When he heard nothing, he got to his feet, slowly and warily. Only then did he take a good look at his surroundings. He was in front of huge, black iron gates, which bore a large crest. Frowning, he tried to recognise the crest. It was had a large 'P' with a stag and lion on either side. The crest was vaguely familiar, it rang a distant bell, but he couldn't recognise it. Shaking his head, he pulled his thoughts from the crest and began to search for any magic in the area. Instantly he felt the Anti-Apparation wards within the gates. That meant the owners of this property had to be magical. He pondered on the safety of venturing inside, he may set off wards or these people could be Death Eaters. He was on the brink of turning on his heal, when he remembered that he was the defeater of Voldemort. He drew his wand and pushed open the gates decisively. He detected magic on them as well and froze, expecting wards to go off. Nothing happened, so he shut them. The moment they clicked shut, Harry transformed into his Animagus form, a stag, and galloped toward the Manor. He hoped, should he have set off wards without his noticing, it would be harder to detect an animal. As he approached, he had to admit it was a lovely place, and clearly owned by very rich people. He came to the front doors, and transformed into human form once more. Unsure of what to do, Harry glanced around, as if the surrounding area could give him some clue as what to do. He was very aware that people might be Death Eaters. Or he could be in a completely different country. He had no idea what had happened to him. Biting his lip and gripping his wand, he threw caution into the wind. He knocked. Rubbing his thumb along his wand, he listened to some shuffling and then a low voice from inside. Then the door was thrown open.

(--)

When the knock sounded on the door, Lily dropped the album and raced into the Entrance Hall, leaving a stunned and rather frightened Sophie behind. James was already there.

"None of the intruder wards went off," James said to her, keeping his eyes planted on the doors. "Only a member of our immediate family can get through without setting them off. And we're all inside right?"

"Yes," Lily replied, fixing her gaze on the doors as well. "It isn't Sirius or Remus?"

"No, they would set off a ward, so we know we have visitors," James said. He tugged on his hair nervously.

"Then who is it?" Lily asked, turning to look at her husband. All that she could think was 'dark wizards', but she was sure even they couldn't get past the wards. She bit her tongue and waited for an answer. James had to know. He had to.

"No idea," James said softly. Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking back at James. He hadn't removed his gaze from the doors once. "Okay, we open the door together, on the count of three."

"Okay," Lily agreed, breathing deeply and slowly. _Please don't be Death Eaters, please don't be Death Eaters, please don't be Death Eaters_, she thought over and over.

"Right," James cleared his throat. He often did that when he was nervous. It almost made Lily smile. It would have, if the situation hadn't been so dire.

"One," Lily said, drawing her wand. She was determined to stay strong. Her eyes flittered between the door and her husband.

"Two," James drew his as well.

"Three!" they yanked open the door. Lily dropped her wand in horror. She heard James let out a strangled yelp next to her. The reason?

A young man, almost identical to James, was at the door. He fainted at the sight of them.

(--)

"What do we do now?"

"Dumbledore said just wait. He should come round soon."

"'Who is he?"

"Flower, we've been through this. I don't know!"

Harry slowly drifted back into consciousness. Briefly, he wondered what had happened. Then everything came back to him. He had arrived at a large manor house and the people who answered the door had been his parents. No, no, they _looked _like his parents. There was absolutely no way it could have been his parents. They were probably Death Eaters under the Polyjuice Potion. Probably.

"Shh! I think he's waking up!"

Harry tried to identify the voice, but he couldn't. Though it, like the crest, sounded a bell deep from the folds of memories he had long forgotten. He attempted to speak, but all he could muster was a groan.

"Yes, he's definitely waking up."

Harry resisted the urge to say 'Duh', not that he would have been able to anyway. He shifted a bit and opened his eyes. A redheaded woman was leaning over him, but without his glasses, he couldn't see her clearly. Come to think of it, where _were _his glasses?

"He's awake," the redheaded woman announced. _There must be someone else in the room_, Harry thought. Then...

"Get Dumbledore."

_Dumbledore?_ Harry thought incredulously. _Dumbledore's dead! _He couldn't even begin to fathom what the woman meant by what she said. _Did she mean Aberforth Dumbledore? _Harry wondered.

"Right," a male voice responded.

The woman put her arm under his back and Harry sat up with her help. He automatically shuffled himself around hoping to make himself more comfortable. No luck.

"Hello, dear," the woman said kindly. "Would you care to tell us who you are? You gave James and me quite a fright."

"I'm Harry," Harry muttered. Why was she being nice to him? Death Eaters would have blasted him into the next millennium by now! "Sorry, but who're you?" he asked.

"Lily Potter, dear,"

Harry froze. "What?" he asked. This woman was insane. His mother was dead. Surely Death Eaters knew he would never fall for this. What was going on? The logical part of his mind was reeling, whilst the emotional part was chanting, _no, no, no, no, no, no!_

"Lily Potter," the woman repeated. She gave him an oddly quizzical look, as though he was playing a joke or something. Harry looked at her steadily. She frowned, but continued, watching carefully for his reaction. "And my husband, James, is over by the fire. Is something wrong? You're horribly pale and clammy." 'Lily' looked genuinely concerned. Harry lowered his eyes.

"My glasses," he murmured. The woman handed them over and he put them on. The woman swam into focus. He gasped. She had red hair and green eyes. His green eyes. "No…" he moaned, pushing himself away. _No way,_ he thought desperately. _This is mad. I'm going crazy. She's dead, she's dead, she's dead_. The emotional chant became ten times louder. His brain was surely going to explode from all the noise any minute now. He clutched the sides of his head hard, before releasing it and letting his head drop. _Deep breaths, _he told himself. _Come on, Potter, calm down!_

"Dumbledore's coming," 'James' said, stepping away from the fireplace. Harry turned to look at him. The noises in his brain doubled. His eyes widened when, the next second the flames went green and a man resembling Dumbledore emerged.

Harry shook his head. He was going mad. Three dead people in front of him. He turned to the woman, hoping beyond hope that maybe… "Am I dead?" he asked her. Yes, that had to be it. How else would he be able to see three definitely dead people? His breathing calmed. Then he realised something else. How on earth had he died? He didn't remember being hit by any curse. He looked at 'Lily' helplessly. _She must know something_, he thought desperately. _Ah, but she's probably a Death Eater. She obviously won't help you. _Harry shook his head, scowling at the woman.

'Lily' gave him a startled look. "No, of course not," she said. "Are you alright? Good God, Albus, the boy looks ready to faint again!"

'Dumbledore' swiftly approached the bed. "My name is Albus Dumbledore," he said calmly. "I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts School. Who are you and how did you penetrate the Potters' wards?"

"You know who I am," Harry snapped. _This was pathetic_, he decided. "Harry Potter. Duh," he added, sneeringly.

The effect was phenomenal. 'Lily' screamed, 'Dumbledore' stood up in a hurry and backed off, while 'James' drew his wand, and pointed it directly at Harry. He was white with fury and shaking.

"How dare you!" 'James' yelled.

"A new low for the Death Eaters," 'Dumbledore' said serenely. Harry quirked an eyebrow, which caused 'Dumbledore to lift his chin considerably. "Impersonating dead people to torture everyone," the no-longer-twinkling blue eyes surveyed Harry coldly from behind the half moon glasses.

Harry snorted at the hypocrisy. "Oh, yeah?" he asked. A cold fury welled up inside him. Harry struggled with it, trying desperately not to break out and scream. "Well then, explain exactly how what you're doing is not!" he demanded.

"Excuse me?" 'Dumbledore' frowned. "Forgive me, but I do not understand what you mean. I am not impersonating anyone who is dead."

"Then was I blind when I saw you murdered?" Harry demanded. He somehow knew it was hopeless to state the obvious to these people, but he did, hoping to magically coerce them into submission. "I saw Dumbledore thrown of the Astronomy Tower. I know you're a Death Eater. I know you all are. Lily and James Potter were murdered on Halloween nearly seventeen years ago and you know it. So chuck the disguise. This is the most pathetic plot I've ever seen."

'Lily', 'James' and 'Dumbledore' stared at him. Then 'James' exploded.

"Our son, died on Halloween nearly seventeen years ago," 'James' ranted in a fury. "This is a Death Eater plot to unsettle us!"

"James," 'Dumbledore' interrupted suddenly. Everyone turned to stare at him. "I see no lie."

"He might be a master Occlumens!" 'James' protested. He turned back to Harry, clearly intending to curse him into obliviation.

Harry grinned at the irony, ignoring 'James' completely. "I am," he raised an eyebrow. "I've been practising for over a year now. Not even Voldemort could break through my barrier. Or that of Ron, Hermione and Ginny."

He started suddenly. Why was he telling all this to these people? _Idiot, _he cursed himself. _Listen to Mad-Eye. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!_

"The Weasleys and the Granger girl?" 'James' demanded, interrupting Harry's chastisement of himself. "How do you know them? I know for a fact, not one of them has had anything to do with Death Eaters!"

"Of course they have!" Harry scowled, forgetting his previous thoughts in an instant. "They helped me in the final battle! They were next to me when I killed Voldemort!"

'Dumbledore' and Harry's 'parents' stared at him in shock.

"Voldemort is not dead, young man," 'Dumbledore' said, giving Harry an odd look. "He is very much alive, if in hiding."

"You're mad," Harry said. He frowned slightly. The whole situation was making him fell uneasy. This didn't fit. If they were Death Eaters, why hadn't they tried to get revenge yet? Why had they let him wake up? They were being kind to him, and none of them had ever considered anything like that before, let alone actually _do _it. "I defeated Voldemort like the Prophecy stated. And Ron, Hermione and Ginny were next to me the whole time. And I saw Voldemort die. He is dead."

"He is in hiding, but certainly he is alive," 'Lily' responded. Her expression was that of grim satisfaction. "Dear old Alastor made sure of that. But," she looked at him with her head on an angle, as though thinking very hard. "What do you mean by we were murdered? And you say you saw Dumbledore die?"

"Yes, though not many people know it," Harry replied. He ploughed onwards. Gut feelings told him to, not that he really understood why. He just did. "I was under my Invisibility Cloak when Snape killed him. Dumbledore had me under a full Body-Bind, so I couldn't do a thing. Had to stand there and watch. And Snape. Got. Away!" Harry snarled. The sore anger that had existed in him since the death exploded into his body, running through every joint, even tingling his fingertips.

'Dumbledore' stared in shock. "I believe… an unlikely theory, but possibly correct… maybe our young guest here… may have travelled across time."

"_Across _time?' Harry demanded. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You did not go forwards or backwards," 'Dumbledore' said calmly. _With an air only Dumbledore could achieve_, Harry couldn't help noticing. 'Dumbledore' took a deep breath. "Time is like a root system, so to speak. At any moment, a single root separates into and creates new timelines. Possibly, you went sideways, across from one timeline, to another."

"Albus," 'Lily' said firmly. "I doubt that's possible."

"Oh, it's certainly possible, my dear," 'Dumbledore' replied, looking at Harry stoically. "And I believe it has happened."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before I started writing, I didn't understand why writers loved reviews so much. Now I do, and I BEG you to review me. Please? Pretty please? I'm away from school and I love reading and replying to reviews while I pass the time. Glandular Fever, you see, soooo

REVIEW!

(The link's just down there. Come on, you just have to click...)


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for all your reviews on Chapter 2! And here's Chapter 3! I'm open to any suggestions as well, so feel free to put them in the reviews as well. If you spot any grammatical errors either, just let me know and I'll fix them.

Enjoy!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry sat alone in the small room that was his for the time being. His head was spinning with all these crazy facts from this new universe. He had a family. He had _siblings_. And Voldemort was not in power. His head replayed Lily's words.

"About a year after you were killed, there was a major battle in Diagon Alley. Somehow, Alastor Moody managed to attack Voldemort and throw the Killing Curse at him. He didn't die, but he was reduced to a spirit. He is now in hiding, barely alive."

Voldemort had never gotten hold of the Philosopher's Stone, Ginny had never been given the diary and the Triwizard Tournament had never taken place. Voldemort had never had the opportunity to re-establish himself. Of course, the downside was he had several Death Eaters who were in regular contact with him. The Order was on permanent alert and had never been dispersed. They also had several well-placed spies in the Death Eater ranks. This inevitably made Harry think of Snape. In Harry's world, Harry had made sure Snape was in Azkaban and he was now rumoured to be insane. In this world, Snape had never been discovered. Instead, he was always travelling and the Potions job at Hogwarts had been taken by none other than Harry's mother, Lily. Slughorn had not come out of retirement. James was an Auror, along with Sirius, and Remus was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. That thought brought a smile to Harry's face. Remus was highly popular, and he didn't wear shabby robes. The years of steadily working for Dumbledore had left Remus quite comfortable. In a way, this universe was better than Harry's, for there was peace, Sirius had never been to Azkaban and Snape was insane. _Yes_, Harry thought, lying down again and stretching. _I could get used to this. A nice, well-earned break_.

But he was missing several important things. Ginny, for one. And Ron, Hermione, Hedwig, Sakima, his snake, and Asa, his Japanese Phoenix (A/N: Rare, Japanese, mythological creature), though he supposed Asa would find a way to get to him. She was astoundingly clever. She had come to him on his seventeenth birthday, and Hermione had instantly recognised her as the Japanese Phoenix, thanks to her snowy colour. Hermione had researched Japanese names and come up with Asa. It meant 'the healer' and 'the morning'. Hermione had chosen the name because of Phoenix healing tears, and Harry, Ron, Ginny and the Phoenix herself had approved. Since then, Asa had stuck with Harry faithfully. If Harry was in trouble or away against his will, Asa would be with him in an instant. Harry had been afraid Hedwig would be jealous, but the animals had gotten on famously. Harry had no idea what they squawked to each other about, but it was obvious to everyone that Hedwig had taken the young Phoenix under her wing.

He had found Sakima nearly ten months before. He was a majestic animal with a large dosage of pride, hence the name 'Sakima' which meant 'king' and was a Native American name. Sakima was an American species. Hermione had looked that name up as well. Sakima was a deadly constrictor, but Harry had found him injured and nursed him back to health, thus the great snake trusted him. Harry had had many cheerful chats with the snake. It drove Ron and Hermione crazy. They could never follow the conversation entirely.

Harry's thoughts drifted to his animagi ability. When he had first mastered it, he hoped he would be able to understand Hedwig and Asa, but no such luck. If it had been possible, they kept their beaks shut near him when he was in his stag form. It was the same form as his father's, and that of his patronus. His friends had also become animagi with him, and their forms corresponded with their patronuses also. Harry had been the first to achieve a full transformation, but Hermione was merely a fortnight behind. She became an otter, which could be handy during surprise attacks, if there was some water about.

Ron had succeeded six weeks later, becoming a small Jack Russell. He and Ginny, who had accomplished the art mere days after her brother, could use their forms to sneak around. Dogs and ginger cats (Ginny's form) were not unusual around the streets. They could spy and nobody would look twice. It had been highly useful.

Harry, being a stag, had often carried Hermione of speedy escapes. He was astonishingly fast when transformed and everyone agreed he was handy for getting away. He sometimes carried Ron and Ginny as well (Ron hadn't liked this the first time. He insisted he was fast enough on his own, and had ended up captured. He earned himself a session of being screamed at for being 'too proud for his own good'. After this he agreed to let Harry help.), and not once had they been taken hostage when he gave them a lift to safety. Remus had often commented how amazing it was. The Marauders took three years to become animagi. Harry took three months, Hermione took almost four and Ron and Ginny needed only six.

Fred, George, Bill and Charlie had all begun animagi training as well. They had established their forms, and were almost capable of a complete transformation. Both twins were talking parrots ("Why do they get the most annoying animals on the planet?" Ginny had complained when it was revealed.), Bill was a Red Fox, whilst Charlie became a Grey Wolf. It often struck Harry how similar the two elder Weasley brothers' forms were. Bill became a Red Fox because he was 'calm, cool and striking' to quote Hermione, who stated this very matter-of-factly. It certainly caused Bill and Ron to go bright red, though Ron was red with jealously and anger. Hermione had ignored this and gone on to explain that Charlie 'liked doing it tough and liked the danger'. Harry didn't know whether he was thick or not, but he still found the connections unusual.

Throughout all their Animagus training, they had Remus on hand to help out. Professor McGonagall was also watching closely. Both had experience in the area, and none of the Weasleys, Harry or Hermione was registering. There were far too many spies and Voldemort would know within days. They wanted and needed to keep their special abilities as secret as was humanly possible. Barely anyone knew about it. Tonks, Kingsley, Moody, Mr and Mrs Weasley and Fleur (who had married Bill and joined the Order a week after Harry's seventeenth birthday) were the only ones besides Remus and McGonagall who knew anything about it.

Mr and Mrs Weasley had, predictably, reacting with worry.

"Don't go and over-exert yourselves," Mr Weasley had said, spinning his wand between his index and middle fingers. "I know a simple spell to help you if you splinch…"

Mrs Weasley had cut him off with one of her rants about the dangers, the stupidity and the ways to live without being animagi. Naturally they had ignored her, and she calmed down eventually.

Tonks had exclaimed with glee at the announcement. She initially asked to learn with them, but Harry pointed out she was already a Metamorphmagus and had no need to learn. She had visibly deflated at that, but given them her solemn word she would help them all the way. She then turned to Kingsley and demanded he do the same. Harry had expected a lecture from the Auror, but he had simply warned them to be careful and told them to let him know if they ever needed any help. He too used splinching for his example.

Moody had encouraged them, telling them the more ways they had to get around the Dark Lord, the better their chances of survival ("Cheerful, isn't he?" Ron said to Harry under his breath). Harry had taken the words to heart and worked doubly hard, and was rewarded very quickly. So fast, no one believed him when he said he was capable of a full transformation.

He remembered Ron's dumbstruck expression; Ginny's awed look and Hermione's amazed, but slightly annoyed face when he had proven it. He knew she wanted to be first. She had been gracious about it, and was rewarded for her efforts two weeks later, when she shocked everyone again with their 'instant' animagus ability. Ron had also been very proud to prove he would not be the last, although Ginny was over a year younger than Harry and almost a full two years younger than Hermione.

"Excuses, excuses," Ron had said airily when she pointed this out. "You need to work, not talk, Ginevra."

Ginny had been infuriated, and given Ron a blood nose and a black eye, before turning into a cat in front of him three days later. Ron had been so annoyed –

_WHOOSH_

Harry shot put of bed, startled from his reminiscence. He was standing in a duelling position, wand out, when he spotted Asa. He sighed in relief and happiness at the sight of his companion and replaced his wand on the bedside table. It was then he noticed she was carrying his trunk and Hedwig's cage (with Hedwig inside). Sakima was wrapped around the trunk. For about the millionth time, Harry was struck by the Phoenix ability to carry such heavy loads. He hastened across the room, and started arranging the few belongings she'd brought him. After ensuring Sakima was wrapped around his arm securely, he shoved his trunk to the foot of the bed and hung Hedwig's cage from a hook that conveniently protruded from above the window. Hedwig hooted at him, banging around in her cage. He laughed and opened the door. She flew to his shoulder and nibbled his ear affectionately. Asa landed on the other shoulder and began to peck him. He laughed at the birds' antics and sat back down on the bed. Hedwig flew off his shoulder and settled on the bedside table. Asa landed on the bed frame, but Sakima stayed firmly in his place.

"_I am happy where I am,_" he hissed. "_You are warm._"

Harry snorted slightly. It gave him a sense of normality, chatting with his snake, though he still didn't have any of his friends.

"_Have you seen Ginny, Ron, or Hermione?_" he asked the snake.

"_Yes,_" the snake sighed. "_Ginny is frantic._"

Harry winced at the thought of worrying his friends. He couldn't help but wonder if Ron and Hermione were worried. They had become engaged on the eve of the battle, and promised to wed over the summer if they both survived. If they both survived. Those words had chilled Harry to the bone when they had told him. It gave him reason to fight, however.

But where they worried? _Of course they are_, he told himself. _Stop being such a prat!_ He almost laughed at himself. He firmly assured himself they were highly concerned, but he couldn't quench the slight twinge of 'maybe they aren't'… He shook himself. _You know they're worried, you great lump! Stop pitying yourself!_

"_Please stop shaking,_" Sakima interrupted Harry's self rebuking thoughts. "_It is most uncomfortable._"

"_My apologies, Sakima,_" Harry hissed to the snake, though laughing mentally. Sakima could be quite temperamental. "_I hope you were not dislodged?_"

"_Not this time,_" the snake said irritably.

Harry nodded slightly. "Any messages, Asa?" he asked calmly. He sometimes swore they had a telepathic connection. He always understood exactly what the bird meant to say to him, and she always understood him. He just never understood what she and Hedwig said. Come to Hedwig, he often had a telepathic connection with her too.

Asa looked at him fiercely, and cooed slightly. Harry understood it as, "The girls are frantic and Ron is in shock."

"But you haven't any messages?" Harry asked desperately. She obviously didn't have a note – he would have seen that by now. But maybe a simple message? Something like "Are you alright, Harry?" or "Where are you, we're worried sick!"?

Asa held her head high and looked down on him.

"No…" Harry sighed. "Here, Asa, could you take a note? I guess you can travel across dimensions. I don't want them worried. And they need to know what's happened to me. I mean, the press will be hunting me down, they have to be certain I'm safe and at least be able to tell them that much. It might give them a break. But imagine the headlines! _Boy-Who-Lived Disappears! The Man-Who-Conquered Is Missing In Action! _Merlin, now I feel bad about leaving them –"

There was a creak as the door opened. Harry had his wand in his hand within seconds.

"Who are you?" he demanded, seeing a shadow from the doorway. No figure had come into sight.

"S-Sophie," a small voice said. "And Nick and Andy. They're still in the hall… I can go, you know. I just heard you talking and wondered… Nick and Andy dared me. I'm sorry… I'll just go. Um, sorry to bother you."

Harry saw the shadow start to retreat. "No, no," he said quickly. "Come in."

The shadow edged forwards again. Then she stepped into the room. A small girl, no older than ten, with red hair and his green eyes looked around. Her eyes fell on Harry and she gasped. Harry stared at her, not noticing the two boys who followed her in.

"Who are you?" one of the boys demanded. Harry jerked his eyes away from the little girl, and stared at a tall boy with black hair. He didn't wear glasses – neither of them did – and had hazel eyes. The younger looking boy had red hair and green eyes, just like the girl. They looked to be the same age as well.

"I might ask you the same thing," Harry said calmly. This was weird.

"I'm Andrew Potter,' the black haired boy said with an air of importance. "I'm called Andy. I'm fourteen."

"And I'm eighteen," Harry said, startled by the name 'Potter'. He had _siblings _here? This place was _weird_. But he wasn't sure he liked the boy. He seemed full of himself. Harry was unkindly reminded of Cornelius Fudge when he thought he had something over someone. _Like at the hearing_, Harry thought bitterly.

"Liar," Andy said, going slightly red. "You don't look older than fifteen."

"Appearances can be deceiving," Harry retorted. "Fourteen, eh? Just finished third year?"

"Yep!" Andy said proudly. "And my older sister just finished fourth. You and she look about the same age. You just finished fourth?"

"Seventh," Harry said. Nope, he definitely didn't like this boy. Pompous prick. He did _not_ like him at all.

"I don't believe you," Andy said.

"Then don't," Harry said, sick of him. Idiot. "And who are you?" he asked the younger children. They exchanged stunned looks. Maybe Andy was considered pretty good when it came to arguments. Harry snorted mentally.

"I'm Nicholas, but I'm always called Nick," the boy said. "And Sophie's my twin. I'm older by eleven minutes and we're ten. We're starting at Hogwarts next year. Our birthday's in December."

"Good for you," Harry said. His head was swimming with the rude comments Andy had made. Harry knew he looked young for his age and people often looked surprised when he told them how old he was. But they never, ever outright called him a liar.

"Why do you have a snake?" Sophie asked timidly. She gripped her left elbow with her right arm and rubbed it, hard, with her thumb. Her eyes flickered between Harry and Sakima.

"I'm a Parselmouth," Harry said, eyeing Andy distastefully. Would this shock the selfish prat? He certainly hoped so. "This is Sakima. He's a Kingsnake and his name means 'king'. I found him, injured, not too long ago. He's stuck with me ever since. Would you like to pet him? He doesn't mind."

Sophie looked at the snake in awe. "Yeah…" she muttered, gawping at it as though transfixed. "Yeah, okay."

"_Sophie will pet you, Sakima,_" Harry told the snake. "_Let her be._"

"_Very well,_" Sakima's tongue left his mouth to pick up her scent. "_But ensure she does not hurt me. I would not take kindly to that._"

"_Understandably,_" Harry responded smoothly. "He says you mustn't harm him. A perfectly reasonable request."

Sophie nodded and began walking forwards towards Harry's outstretched arm, around which Sakima with wrapped. Before she was halfway across the room, Andy shouted suddenly.

"Hold it!" he cried. "How do I know you didn't just lie to us? You might have told that snake, Sack-Emma or whatever, to attack her! You're a Parselmouth and that's a known trait of dark wizards! You're probably out to hurt us!"

"I'm not," Harry said quietly. Anger pumped through every vein in his body. How _dare _this boy accuse him of being a dark wizard? How dare he say Harry was a liar and bent on harming them? "I have no intention of hurting anyone, let alone a nice young girl who wants to pet my snake, who's name is Sak-ee-ma, not Sack-Emma. And you'd better watch who you accuse of dark activity. I'm sure you wouldn't fancy being unconscious for the next fortnight. I hate every dark wizard on the planet and I would never join them. Anyone who accuses me of doing that regrets it sincerely, you can be sure of that, Andrew Potter."

"You're threatening me!" Andy protested.

"So I am," Harry said, in mock thoughtfulness. "How about we do a deal. You promise to shut up, and I won't threaten you – much."

Andy gulped. "But – but –" he argued half-heartedly. "How do I know you aren't lying? You've got nothing to prove that you're trustworthy!"

Harry cocked his head. "I've got Asa," he said. He held out his Sakima-free arm and the phoenix jumped on. She shuffled up to his shoulder and nudged his head. Harry grinned. "Will that do?"

"You've got a _phoenix_?" Andy demanded, glaring at Harry and Asa. "A Parselmouth who owns a phoenix! That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard. And totally unbelievable. Either you're a Parselmouth and dark, or you're light and you own a phoenix! You can't be both!"

"I'm light, I own a Japanese Phoenix named Asa, and I'm a Parselmouth who owns a snake named Sakima. Oh, and Hedwig, my owl. I've had her since I was eleven. She was my birthday present from Hag – an old friend," Harry hurriedly covered up 'Hagrid'. He reckoned these children would know Hagrid and Andy might ask if he'd bought anyone an owl. This Hagrid would say no, and he didn't want a reputation as a liar already. He'd spent too much of his life being called that. He certainly didn't want to be labelled that when he had a chance to start over with a clean slate.

If Andy noticed the cover-up, he didn't say anything (which probably meant he didn't notice anything, Harry said later). He certainly looked suspicious and less than friendly. However, it was clear he'd run out of arguments.

"Andy, please can I pat the snake?" Sophie begged, giving him incredible lost little puppy eyes. "Pretty please?" she stuck out her bottom lip.

Andy sighed. "Fine!" he said, biting his lip in annoyance. "But don't come running to me – or blaming me, for that matter – when it tries to kill you. I've said he's not trustworthy, but I can't say any more. It's your call entirely."

Harry scowled at the boy, who let out a deep sigh, obviously trying to give the appearance of being a silent hero. Harry turned away and held out his arm once more. Sophie crept up, as though frightened that if she walked too loud, Sakima would kill her. Her arm shook as she stretched it out. It hovered above Sakima for a moment, and then landed lightly on the snake's back.

"_Aaah,_" Sakima hissed in pleasure. Harry knew just how much Sakima loved being petted and stroked.

Then…

"MUM!" Andy screamed. "DAD! THERE'S A KID UP HERE AND HE'S ATTACKING SOPHIE!"

Sophie screamed. Nick yelled. Andy was in the doorway shouting at the top of his lungs. Nick ran up to him and covered his mouth, muffling the yells. Sophie began to cry and she curled up next to Harry on the bed, resting her head on his chest. Harry let Sakima slither off his arm, and he then wrapped it around the terrified girl. Footsteps thumped towards the door. Then Lily and James burst in. James started towards Harry.

"You!" he exclaimed furiously. "I knew you were trouble! I don't know why we believed you! How did you pull it over Dumbledore, eh? And what did you do to my daughter?"

"He got his snake to attack her," Andy said smugly. Harry shot a glare at the boy. "He said he would attack her, but I knew better. I tried to dissuade her from touching the beast, but she didn't listen. So I got you up here."

"And scared the living daylights out of her when you screamed," Harry snapped. "She was stroking him. She wasn't in any danger. But now she's scared out of her wits, all thanks to you, you clever idiot!" he pointed vigorously at the little girl who was crying even harder now.

James looked suddenly uncomfortable. He looked at his daughter, who was clinging to Harry, crying, before rounding on Andy. "What do you mean, he was attacking her? She looks fine to me, other than she's just been frightened beyond belief! By you!"

"He hadn't started to attack her, but he was about to!" Andy tried to protest.

"He wasn't!" Sophie said suddenly. "Andy, you great prat! He was letting me play with his snake. I was nervous, of course, but not because of him, because of the snake. Snakes make most people nervous. And I had barely touched it when you screamed. And you scared me! You're so mean! You think you can get away with everything, just because you look like Harry!"

The whole room was deathly quiet. No one even breathed. Sophie clapped her hand to her mouth and began to whimper again. She ducked behind Harry again, who looked around at the rest of the room. Lily and James had begun taking shuddering breaths. Nick looked shell-shocked. Andy started to go red and then began spluttering. As if this gave her confidence, Lily walked right up to him.

"To your bedroom, young man," she ordered, pointing her index finger between his eyes. They crossed to see it. Harry restrained from snorting. It was obvious that Andy was in shock. Lily seemed to have gotten over hers, though. "And no Quidditch for a week! You can help out around the house instead. Maybe you should learn not to judge people too quickly. You were very wrong about this incident, weren't you?"

Andy mumbled something, going even redder.

"What was that?" Lily asked, her chin jutted out in annoyance.

"Yes, Mum," Andy said, his voice barely audible.

"Good," Lily nodded her head forcefully. She placed her hands on his shoulders and steered him from the room. Nick followed, still looking like he didn't know what had just hit him. Harry was strongly reminded of how Ron had looked when he first kissed Ginny.

"Erm, right. Well…" James cleared his throat. "Ah, Sophie?"

"Coming, Daddy," Sophie wriggled out of her position next to Harry. She looked up at him. "You're nice. What's your name?"

"Harry," Harry said. He watched for a reaction. He didn't get one, because James grabbed Sophie and literally shoved her out the door. He looked back at Harry as he began to leave as well.

"Nice phoenix you've got there," he said suddenly. "Japanese, isn't it?"

The door shut with a click.

(--)

"So let me get this straight," eleven-nearly-twelve-year-old Emily Potter folded her arms across her chest as she stared down her younger brother and sister. "There's a boy upstairs who looks like Dad, has Mum's eyes and calls himself Harry?"

"Yes!" Sophie nodded insistently. "He's so nice!"

"And he's a Parselmouth with a snake named Sakima and a phoenix named Asa," fourteen-year-old Rose Potter said. "And he says he's eighteen and has finished at Hogwarts."

"Yes!" Nick exclaimed. He grinned at his older sisters.

Emily and Rose exchanged dubious looks. Sophie caught the looks and the meaning behind them and her bottom lip started to tremble.

"You don't believe us, do you?" she asked, letting a tiny sob escape. "You never believe us! We're not lying! I swear!"

"Sophie…" Rose began, looking helplessly at Emily, who was edging away. "Emily Natalia (A/N Don't think it's weird. There's a reason. You'll see later on.) Potter, get back here right now!"

Emily slunk back grouchily. "Aww, come on Sophie, don't cry! Mum will flip if she reckons we got you crying!"

"You _did_ get her crying," Nick pointed out. He knew what Sophie was up to. She did it a lot to get things to go their way. It was a twin thing.

"Shut up, Nicholas!" Rose scolded. "Sophie, come on, I'll ask Mum. I'm sure she'll tell us what's going on."

"Like she ever tells us anything!" Emily scoffed. "If she and Dad provided a room for some stranger, its obviously top secret Order business. She won't say anything."

"We may as well ask," Rose pointed out. She grabbed Emily's sleeve and dragged her sister from the room.

As soon as they were gone, Nick rounded on his sister.

"What was that for?" he demanded. "What did you want this time?"

"Oh, Nick," Sophie said impatiently. "It's obvious! If we feed information to Em and Rose, they ask Mum. Mum will naturally tell them a certain amount of stuff about Harry. We then eavesdrop – you know them, don't ever consider that someone might listen in – and get that stuff too. That way, we work out what's happening with this guy. We know him so we can draw on our own experience as well."

"Uh-huh," Nick said doubtfully. "Run me through that again."

Sophie glared at him. "Well…"

(--)

Albus Dumbledore was in his office, pondering the mystery of cross-dimensional travel, when James Potter's head appeared in the grate. Dumbledore immediately dropped the quill he had been writing with and swept around his desk to crouch before the flames.

"Albus!" James sounded slightly panicked.

"Has something happened to Harry?" Dumbledore said, worriedly. They couldn't afford to let any harm come to the boy. If something happened, well, a great opportunity for magical research had been missed, not to mention the ability to learn of how to defeat Voldemort. No, Harry was extremely important.

"Not really," James said. "But Andy, Nick and Sophie found him. Albus – he's a Parselmouth and he's got a snake. A big one. Some kind of constrictor, I think. Anyway, Andy accused him of being a dark wizard and screamed for us when Sophie tried to pet it. His belongings have all showed up as well. He has a snowy owl and – you won't believe this, Albus – a Japanese Phoenix. Pure white. I'm guessing the phoenix brought his things, but – Merlin, Albus, he gave everyone a fright. Plus, he comforted Sophie when she started crying. She's already taken a shine to him. I guess you could say I'm in shock at the moment. This is one heck of a tirade isn't it? Not to mention breathless."

"You could say that," Dumbledore smiled, though he himself was slightly stunned. A Parselmouth with a snake and a phoenix? The ability to converse with snakes was considered to be a dark ability. An ability that resided in the line of Slytherin. Though it probably did not mean he was dark. Werewolves were considered dark, but Remus Lupin was quite the opposite of the 'aggressive, blood thirsty and evil' label all werewolves were forced to bear. And the fact Harry had a phoenix meant his heart was true and he had no evil intentions. What's more, the Japanese Phoenix was renowned for purity, with its snow white feathers. Harry had to be pure at heart to have one of these phoenixes. He had Fawkes, and one or two of his great friends also owned phoenixes, but they were all average phoenixes. Not Japanese ones. Dumbledore could feel his head spinning. "From your jumbled and rushed explanation, I would say Harry is pure at heart, but is a Parselmouth, though that does not detract from his trustworthiness. Look at your friend Remus, for example. He has the misfortune of being a werewolf, but his is kind and gentle and has a good heart. What is to say Harry is not in the same boat? Though his ability is born, not gained. I suppose you could say that the way he comforted young Sophie is an example of what sort of man he is."

"Yes," James said, his head shifting in the flames. "I've got nothing to hold against him, but I thought you should know this. Its not every day you meet an eighteen-year-old who is a Parselmouth and owns a phoenix."

"Yes," Dumbledore said, thoughtful. His eyes suddenly widened and he looked at James intensely. "You say his belongings showed up, along with the phoenix and snake?"

"And owl," James said. "Yes, they did."

"He has an owl as well?" Dumbledore smiled. "Many pets. Hmm. You didn't actually see this, did you?"

"No, I didn't," James shook his head. "We left him in his room, and when we returned to Andy's yells, they were there."

"Ah," Dumbledore nodded. "I would assume the phoenix found him and brought them for him. That is what you said you believe, is it not?"

"Yes, I said that," James eyed Dumbledore with a furrowed brow. "What are you getting at, sir?"

"I mean," Dumbledore said. "Perhaps phoenixes can move through dimensions. Possibly there is a passage they travel down and if people could find that passage, we may be able to move between them also. Though of course, it may be only phoenixes capable of that, but I still hope. If it is merely the phoenix, we humans can communicate through them. Phoenixes can carry mail just like owls, you know."

"Yes, I do," James nodded. "Cross dimensional mail service, is it?" James laughed heartily. "But what do you want from that? Something to benefit the Order? And if so, how would that work, Headmaster?"

"You remember Harry said Voldemort had been defeated?" Dumbledore asked, staring hard at the young man in the fireplace, awaiting his reaction.

"You want to know how they did it!" James exclaimed. "But – but we have Harry here! He could help!"

"There may be several secrets he is unaware of," Dumbledore said calmly. "But they may know of them and we can gain their help and support. The phoenixes might even consent to transport a few people for us as well. After all, Harry's phoenix brought the snake and the owl, did he not?"

"She, I think," James corrected. "Albus, I –"

He was interrupted by a large eagle patronus swooping into the office. Dumbledore gathered the message intended, before turning back to James with a solemn face.

"James," he said gravely. "Alastor Moody has been captured by Lucius Malfoy. The Death Eaters intend to use him in an ancient ritual tonight."

"R-ritual?" James stuttered.

"It will return Voldemort to his body," Dumbledore's eyes had lost their twinkle completely. "Gather the Order."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Its not much of a cliffie, but it will do.

This chapter is double the length of the other two and I expected it would take longer to post, but it didn't. I must have been really focused or something. Be glad its up so soon! Chapter 4 may take longer, as it will be longer than this one **again**, butitis all mapped out. It should be up soon enough.

Please review. I love reviews!


	4. Chapter 4

Hi again! Sorry it took a while to update. This chapter took longer than I thought it would. Anyway, from now on, this will be the minimum length of my chapters (10, 901 words! Phew!). They'll get more than likely get longer, but I'm setting this length as the bottom line. So you can look forward to long updates! Yay!

Now, I hope you enjoy this latest chapter. It's got a little more action in it!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emily and Rose slammed the living room door behind them. They had run all the way from the upstairs lounge where the twins had told them about the mystery boy. Panting, they rounded on the room's only occupant, who looked up at them in surprise.

"Mum!" Rose exclaimed, breathlessly. "Mum!"

Lily closed her book slowly, before placing it gently on the coffee table before her. It rested next to the album she and Sophie had been examining earlier. In all the hustle and bustle surrounding Harry's arrival, the fact it was his birthday had been almost forgotten. But she had just been reading his baby book with all the records of his short life. It had almost caused her to cry again, but she didn't, she stayed strong. The knowledge her eldest son was alive and resting upstairs had made her light hearted and she felt strangely elated. The elation was mixed with a lingering painful grief, leaving Lily rather uncertain as to what her emotions actually where and very dizzy. She mentally pushed these feelings down and put on a blank face. She turned towards her daughters warily.

"Yes?" she asked, shakily. She mentally groaned and berated herself. She didn't want to betray any emotion whatsoever. She needed to keep them under control. Harry was an important and highly confidential secret. She cleared her throat. "Yes?' she repeated, more confidently. That was better.

"Sophie and Nick…" Emily began, biting her lip. She exchanged glances with Rose. Together, they coughed slightly. Lily mentally moaned. What had the twin terrors done this time?

"Theysaidthereisastrangeboyupstairswholookslikedad," Rose said quickly. She cleared her throat and gazed at Lily nervously, as if expecting judgement.

Lily frowned, and shuffled forward on the sofa, leaning towards the two girls. She hadn't heard a word. "I beg your pardon?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow. What on earth could Sophie and Nick have done to cause this type of behaviour?

"Sophie and Nick," Emily twisted a strand of silky black hair around her finger. Lily picked up on this. It was a sign Emily badly wanted to know something. Lily sighed and pushed her own hair back behind her ears. The little girl gazed at her pleadingly and continued. "Said there is a strange boy upstairs who looks like Dad."

Lily started. She hadn't expected that. Nor had she wanted it. "Did they?" she asked, her eyebrows rocketing upwards and failing to disguise the surprise in her voice. Her mind raced, trying to remember if she had forbidden the twins to talk about 'the strange boy upstairs'. She hadn't. _Oh, darn it_, she thought, angrily. _What on earth I am meant to say now? Loophole, loophole – look for a loophole out of this!_

"Are they lying, Mum?" Emily demanded. She yanked her hair slightly, before brushing it behind her ear. Another sign. "Seriously, there can't be a complete stranger upstairs, right?" She stared at her mother intensely. "Right?" she repeated, almost commandingly.

Lily breathed a soft sigh of relief. The loophole had presented itself within seconds of her asking for one! "Right," she replied, a small smile playing on her mouth. She ran a hand through her hair and stared pleasantly at her two daughters. _Now go away_, she thought, hopefully. Maybe if it had worked with the loophole, it would work this time? _Come on, leave it alone!_

Rose and Emily sighed, their expressions a mixture of both relief and disappointment. Rose looked smugly at her mother and sister before speaking.

"I knew they had to be lying," she snorted disdainfully. "A boy upstairs… Honestly!" she tilted her head a little, so she was examining her mother from an angle. "That is just way too far fetched – even for those two!"

"Who told you they were lying?" Lily asked mildly. _Nuts, _she thought, strangely calm. _What am I getting myself into? Learn to keep your mouth shut!_

The two girls froze and gaped at their mother like fish out of water. It took a good twenty seconds before either moved. Lily winced at the silence and gazed at her daughters, mentally begging them to say something. They did, but this time, Emily was the once who spoke up.

"B-but, you did!" she stuttered, eyes wide open. "Just t-then! I heard you!"

Rose nodded firmly, her eyes riveted on Lily. She had yet to close her mouth, something Lily's eyes simply were unable to miss. Even in her slightly panicky state, she was not one to overlook this type of thing

"Rose Dorea Potter, shut your mouth right now, thank you very much," Lily ordered with annoyance. But that wasn't the only reason she spoke of it. She was desperate to divert the conversation. Unfortunately, her girls were not ones to be so easily manipulated. Blushing slightly, Rose's clamped her jaws shut, but looked to Emily who took the hint to continue the topic. Lily noticed this and moved her eyes to the younger girl. Emily coloured as well.

"I just wanted to ask what you meant!" Emily protested. "You said that we were right that there is no strange boy upstairs, but then you contradict yourself and say the twins didn't lie when the told us about him! Which is the truth?" she took another strand of hair and began twisting again.

Lily gazed at her for a few seconds, and then nodded once, before speaking again. "I said that there was no stranger in the house. I did not deny that we have a visitor. And, no, the twins did not lie. The boy they met upstairs does indeed exist, but he is no stranger – at least, not really. You have never met him, and technically neither has your father or myself. We might say that we know of him. You will find out why soon enough. Right now, I am not at liberty to give you any further information. I expect you to accept that and you are not to go to him and hassle the poor boy on the subject. Do you understand? Rose? Emily?" Lily felt frustrated she had had to fall back on the old 'its top secret and confidential' trick to sway the girls' interest. Though she doubted she had truly demolished their interest, she knew she had done enough to stop them pestering both herself and James.

The sisters exchanged stunned looks, but nodded briefly. Lily smiled at them, and inclined her head towards the door from which they had entered. Taking the hint, the two girls left the room. Lily watched them go, a nervous expression dampening her beautiful face. Now she only hoped they could keep a rein on their curiosity… She somehow doubted that.

The girls shut the door quietly behind them. They glanced at the doorway to the back staircase, but neither dared defy their mother. Instead, both headed down to the kitchen to chat about the boy upstairs. Neither girl noticed the two small redheads crouched behind a statue next to the door, scowling with disappointment.

(--)

James ripped his head away from the fire. His head was spinning. With his eyes wide with shock and horror, he jumped up and ran from the study, in frantic search of his wife.

"LILY!" he bellowed, thundering down the stairs, a high level of panic in his voice. "LILY!"

A door slammed and running feet could be heard. James stopped at the bottom of the main stairs and gripped the banister, as though hoping his desperate clutch would relieve some of his anxiety as he waited for his wife. She came a moment later, sprinting down the hall as if her life depended on it, her eyes wide and her hair flying in every direction.

"What?" she asked breathlessly and urgently, fear evident in her voice. "What's happened, James? Are we being attacked? Please say we aren't being attacked!"

"No," James gasped, almost laughing, though he didn't know why. He was beyond mere terror. "No, we're not being attacked. But Mad-Eye Moody has been captured by Voldemort and the Death Eaters! Dumbledore just heard! I was in his fireplace when Ackerley's patronus arrived. Dumbledore said to gather the Order."

"My god, James," Lily squeaked, her voice high-pitched with horror. "How? He can't get Moody! If he can, then he can get anyone! Oh, no! What are we meant to do?" she seemed frightened out of her wits. James could understand that. Moody was a figure the entire Wizarding community relied on and considered invincible.

"I know, I know," James tried to soothe her. "We'll get him back, don't worry," he suddenly froze remembering the other fact Dumbledore mentioned. "They plan to perform some kind of ritual tonight. And I'd bet my entire vault at Gringotts that they plan to kill him by dawn tomorrow."

Lily screamed. James could have kicked himself. He needed her to stay calm. He leant forwards, wrapping his arms around her and rubbing her back. He knew this always had a soothing effect on her. Sure enough, within seconds, she pulled back, still looking scared, but resolute. She spoke.

"Is it another plot to restore him?" Lily paled considerably at the thought. Her eyes widened again and a trickle of the fear reappeared. "Like the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Who knows?" James said frantically, unnerved by the thought. It hadn't occurred to him that might happen, though now he thought about it, it seemed a likely option. "Let's just gather the Order."

"The Order? As in the Order of the Phoenix?" a new voice inquired mildly.

James and Lily jumped and looked around. At the top of the staircase stood Harry, a snake wrapped around his arm, and a snow-white phoenix on his opposite shoulder. James' eyebrows vanished into his hairline and Lily's eyes widened even further, leaving them the size of galleons. If Harry noticed this, he ignored it, but only stared at them with high intensity. His clothing also added to all round imposing look he had. He was wearing black tracksuit pants, a green jumper and a pair of black joggers. It was casual gear, but still left Lily and James gawping at him like a pair of gormless idiots. Harry noticed this and scowled at them, before speaking again.

"I asked if you were talking about the Order of the Phoenix," Harry repeated, stepping down onto the top step purposefully.

No reply.

"Oh, come on!" he cried, looking rather exasperated. "It's a simple question! Were you just talking about the Order of the Phoenix?"

Slowly, and in perfect unison, they nodded. Harry grinned and bounced down the stairs, coming to a halt before the two adults. They stared at him in astonishment. He just rolled his eyes.

"How do you know about the Order, Harry?" James asked cautiously. His face was closely guarded and Harry couldn't work out what he was thinking. He didn't want to push his luck and attempt Legilimency, for if should James notice and repel him, that would have disastrous consequences for his life here. He needed trust. So Harry only gazed at his father for a moment before answering.

"Sirius, Remus and the Weasleys were members in my – er – my world," Harry replied, uncertain how to refer to his home. "I stayed with them at Headquarters for a bit when I was still at school."

"I see," Lily said slowly, and giving the snake a nervous look. "Well, we really have to go," she started to move away, but Harry stopped her – with the arm Sakima was on no less.

"What's happened?" he demanded. His suddenly fierce and furious gaze latched onto them.

James looked highly indignant. "Top secret Order information," he declared, glaring at Harry. "Now, we're wasting time –"

"What's happened?" Harry repeated, an edge creeping into his voice. He stood his ground, his feeling quite angry that they considered him unworthy of knowing about the Order, though he knew that they hardly knew him. To them, he was almost a complete stranger. However, his emotional side didn't pay attention to the logical side, and it showed.

Lily squirmed slightly. "Moody was captured," she said. "The Death Eaters are performing a ritual tonight. I can only surmise it will return Voldemort to full strength."

Harry froze. His mind was suddenly awash with memories of the graveyard duel at the end of his fourth year, causing him to shudder. He looked up at Lily and James. "The graveyard," he said quietly, realising what was going to happen. "And the potion," he stared at them almost dreamily. Then he snapped out of it. "Quick!" he shouted. "Get the Order together. I think I know what has, or what will happen."

Lily hurriedly removed her wand and shot off a patronus her eyes following the tiger as it exited the house. James followed suit, but his eyes didn't follow his stag. They were staring at Harry with a calculating expression.

"You'd better get rid of those animals, Harry," he said eventually. "Not even Dumbledore brings Fawkes to meetings and the snake might unsettle everyone. It probably won't help their level of trust in you."

Harry nodded briefly. "_Sakima,_" he hissed. "_Can you find your way back to our room?_"

"_Yes,_" Sakima replied. He began to slither off Harry's arm. "_I will see you soon,_" he said, as he crawled up the banister and out of sight. Harry looked at Asa, but she held firm to his shoulder.

"Asa doesn't want to go," he told his father. "I expect she'll leave soon enough, but I can't make her."

"Humph!" James said grumpily. Lily raised her eyebrows and Harry shot him a smile.

"Where's Headquarters?" he asked nervously, wondering if it was still Grimmauld Place. He couldn't think of a reason why it wouldn't be. The house should be in Sirius' hands. However, they had to have had Headquarters before Voldemort had been temporarily defeated – maybe they would still be using them. Besides, who was to say the Order had never been disbanded?

James frowned before answering. "Our old Headquarters were destroyed ten years ago. We've been planning to use Grimmauld Place, should Voldemort return to power. But that hasn't happened. We haven't got an official Headquarters yet. And the end of the last war we held meetings in Dumbledore's office, though sometimes we held them here. I expect that will be happening today."

Harry opened his mouth to reply when suddenly a phoenix song started up. Harry turned to look at Asa, but he knew instantly she wasn't the one singing the song. He looked at James and Lily confusedly. "Do you have a phoenix?" he asked, unable to shake the feeling his question was rather stupid.

"No," Lily replied. "That signals Order members are arriving. Order of the Phoenix, phoenix song – you understand?" she smiled at him.

Harry coloured slightly, mentally kicking himself. "Yes, sorry," he apologised. How could he have not made that connection? "So the whole Order? Where's Dumbledore?"

"I'm here," a soft, new voice replied from directly behind him.

Harry whirled around, wand in hand, and caught Albus Dumbledore completely off guard. He held the wand level with Dumbledore's throat. The old man stepped back from the wand instinctively, eyeing Harry with an unreadable expression; though Harry had an uncomfortable feeling it was suspicion. He bit his lip and lowered the wand. He too stepped back.

"Sorry, sir," he said, looking and feeling rather embarrassed. He offered a half-hearted explanation. "I don't like people creeping up behind me. I'm used to everyone knowing that, so generally it's only Death Eaters who do it. And – er – I'm not very good at holding back from attacking, so I would recommend you give me some warning if you ever do come up behind me."

Dumbledore laughed. Harry felt a light feeling take over the heavy one he hadn't even noticed was there. Dumbledore looked at Asa appraisingly.

"This must be that Japanese Phoenix," he said, cheerfully. "She's beautiful, my boy, absolutely beautiful. What's her name?"

"Asa," Harry replied, raising his arm to her. She hopped on. Harry held her out to Dumbledore and she quickly flew up and landed on his shoulder.

"Ah," Dumbledore petted her. "A good name. Meaning 'the healer', if I'm not mistaken. Yes, she has a healing disposition, doesn't she?"

Harry nodded and opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off when the doorbell rang. Lily answered it, and at least twenty people stormed in. Harry recognised most of them, but there were a few he'd never seen before. He caught sight of Tonks' bright pink hair, in between two men, one with brown hair and the other with black. Harry smiled, recognising Remus and Sirius. Kingsley Shacklebolt, Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones were conversing nearby; Dedulas Diggle was practically bouncing with excitement, chatting to a girl who looked no more than eighteen or nineteen. The Weasley twins were talking with Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Lee Jordon, who had his arm around Angelina Johnson. Bill, with Fleur Delacour was hanging off Bill's arm and Charlie were merely inches away, and talking to a young man and woman with dark blonde hair. Harry didn't recognise the man, but the girl looked distinctly familiar. She looked to be in her late twenties. Harry searched his memory. A small memory of Charlie holding her about a month before the battle popped into his mind. Lucy. Lucy Dotty? No, but something like that. Harry hadn't seen much of Charlie following Bill's wedding. He had seen very little of anyone, but he had made plenty of time for the Weasleys. Charlie had been travelling, but had come back, with Lucy, to see Bill and Fleur's son. That was the only time he'd met her.

A new round of people clambered inside. One particular couple caught Harry's eye, and he watched them weave their way over to Mr and Mrs Weasley. Mrs Weasley exclaimed and hugged the woman, whilst Mr Weasley shook the man's hand. Mrs Weasley pushed the younger woman back, and Harry glimpsed her face. He froze in shock. It was Alice Longbottom.

Asa suddenly appeared on his shoulder again. She cooed to him, before launching into the air again. She flew up the stairs and down the hall. Harry watched the spot she disappeared from sight in a daze, not really think at all, until a shout brought him back to reality.

"Come through to the meeting room!" James yelled above the chatter. Instantly, it quietened down a little, and the crowd, now approximately thirty people, began moving into a room off the Entrance Hall.

(--)

"Bloody phoenix song!" Andy growled, when the song broke out. He threw the rubber Quaffle he'd been bouncing across the room. It rolled into several rooms, before finally coming to rest in his bathroom. Ignoring it, Andy made his way over to the wall next to the fireplace. He crouched down directly next to the grate.

"Lions and stags," he said clearly. He pulled back slightly as the soft rumbling noise of moving stone met his ears. A fair sized square slowly appeared in front of him. Without hesitation, he scrambled into it, and stood up. He was in a thin corridor which was part of the secret passages. The Potter Manor had a whole network of passages and staircases running throughout the house. There were entrances in every room and different passwords for each one – almost. The secret system was highly useful. The children used it to sneak into the kitchens for food in the night, and the house-elves used them to move around and clean more effectively. Lily and James used them to check up on the children at night. However, there was also a more sinister use. After Andy's elder brother had died, his parents had moved back to the manor, giving up on the idea of hiding. Voldemort had attacked, and the whole family had hidden in the secret system, along with the elves. Voldemort had not found them and been forced to leave – though he had ransacked the manor to a certain degree. This happened several times, and until Voldemort's downfall when Andy was three, he had attacked them every Halloween and July 31st. When Andy was older, he realised this and he had pestered his parents as to why, until they told him of the horrific death of his brother. It was then Andy had developed another feeling towards Voldemort. He was already frightened, but he gained an incomparable hate for Voldemort's cruel teasing of his parents.

Andy swiftly followed the passage until he came to a spiralling staircase. Barely thinking as he did it, he swerved off the passage and went down. He kept going, past every door on the way, until he came to the very bottom. He pushed on the biggest stone and climbed out into the kitchens.

"Master Andy! Master Andy!"

Andy grinned as the house-elves surrounded him. This was one of the reasons he loved the kitchens so much. They stared up at him adoringly, a fact he had always particularly enjoyed. He opened his mouth to request some food (preferably chocolate mousse or treacle tart), when a loud exclamation cut across.

"Andy!"

It was Emily and Rose. The two girls were seated at a small wooden table underneath what looked like an umbrella stuck to the ceiling without the post in the middle. In fact, it was a 'cooler' that kept everything beneath it pleasantly cool (the kitchen could get annoyingly warm). They were munching their way through a small mountain of chocolate chip biscuits and they each held a glass of apple and blackcurrant juice, and were presently frowning at their brother in obvious surprise.

"What are you doing, Andy?" Rose asked her younger brother scowling. "I thought you were in your room. At least, that's what the house-elves said," she cocked an eyebrow and gingerly replaced her glass on the table. Emily followed suit.

Andy scowled at them and walked over to the table. He plonked himself in between them and grabbed a biscuit. "What does it look like?" he asked, his mouth full of biscuit. Rose wrinkled her nose in distaste and Emily laughed, but hurriedly changed it to a cough when Rose gave her 'the look' as the family referred to it. It was a highly irritating glare that fully impersonated her mother when she was her age. It could even make James quail and he said that if it weren't for the fact Rose had black hair, he would be certain that Lily had somehow de-aged herself.

"You're hungry," Rose said, sounding quite disgusted. "But I mean, you look very sour. Something's up. I know you well enough, Andrew Potter," she shot him a suspicious glare. "What's up? What are you _really _doing?" she pointed her index finger at him warningly. "And don't lie."

"Bloody phoenix song," Andy muttered, pulling away. "Always gets me in a bad mood. Can't stand it. Too bloody perfect."

Emily snorted, but Rose leapt to her feet. Her hair, which had been plaited loosely and without a hair tie, fell into her eyes. She brushed it aside impatiently.

"The Order's gathered for a meeting?" she demanded, glaring at Andy. "Did you see anyone?" she began twisting her hair around anxiously, as she sunk back into her chair. Her eyes were wide with fear and excitement. "They haven't come together since the attack at the Quidditch World Cup! I mean, duh, they meet, but they haven't had a full blown emergency meeting in, well, _ages_!"

"I know that, dummy," Andy said imperiously. "I'm not that stupid," he turned his head slightly and raised his nose and chin so he was looking down on them. "Of course I didn't see anyone. I came down the secret passage didn't I?"

Rose opened her mouth, indignation etched onto every aspect of her face, to make a furious retort, when…

BAM!

The kitchen door flew open and two small redheaded blurs sped over to the table. They screeched to a halt in front of the table. It was the twins.

"Emmy! Rosie! Andy!" Sophie gasped, massaging her side. She crouched over it, as if she had a stitch – which she probably did. Her head stayed aloft, however, and her tongue was folded over her top lip as she gazed eagerly at her three elder siblings.

"You won't believe this!" Nick panted, in a similar position to Sophie. His eyes were wide with a mixture of awe and terror, and a lopsided grin was planted on his face.

"The Order," Sophie began, straightening up.

"Is here," Nick added, doing likewise.

"And so is Dumbledore,"

"And the Weasleys,"

"And the Longbottoms,"

"And the McMillans,"

"And Uncle Sirius and Aunt Natalia,"

"And Uncle Remus,"

"But guess who's missing?" Sophie said excitedly.

"Oh, do tell," Andy said lazily, putting his elbows on the table and folding his hands under his chin. He pretended not to be interested, but in all seriousness, he was intrigued, though the pathetically annoyed twin act put him off a bit. It reminded him strongly of the Weasley twins, Fred and George, whom he couldn't bear. The red hair didn't help either.

Sophie scowled at him, folding her arms across her chest and giving him her 'you're-such-a-meanie' look. Nick noticed it and he elbowed her, causing her to cry out and kick him back. He ignored her completely.

"Moody," Nick said. "He's not there. Normally he's up next to Dumbledore, surveying everyone's arrival, but he wasn't today."

"We couldn't see him in the crowd either," Sophie added, seemingly completely over her former annoyance and indignation. "But someone else was with Dumbledore."

"Uh, huh," Emily said sceptically. "Who?"

The twins exchanged looks. "_Harry_," they answered together.

Andy jumped to his feet, the feeling of a great injustice swelling inside him. "Oh, no way!" Andy cried. "Not that stuck up prat! He can't sit in on meetings! That's totally unfair! He's only Rose's age!"

"He is?" Rose asked in surprise. She shot him a quizzical look. "Oh, well, nobody said how old he was, but I just assumed he was older than me."

"He is!" Sophie exclaimed fervently. "He's eighteen!"

"He is not," Andy hissed. "You take one look at him and you know he's a sneaky liar. He's a Parselmouth for crying out loud! He has a snake too! You're a fool for trusting him. I trust my eyes and my common sense. And my common sense says this boy would be lucky to be fifteen."

"Looks can be deceiving," Emily said mildly. "Dad looked younger than he was when he was at school. This kid might be the same. You did say he bore a distinct resemblance to Dad?" she added, turning to the twins.

"Who cares?" Nick wondered aloud. "Oh, come on!" he spun on his heel and raced out of the kitchen, Sophie hot on his heels. She door swung shut behind them. Emily and Rose exchanged questioning glances, before simultaneously shrugging and following their younger siblings. Emily paused at the door.

"Coming, Andy?" she asked sweetly before leaving the room.

Andy growled. Left with no other choice, he chased after them. As the kitchen door closed behind him, he spotted Emily's dark head disappearing up the cellar steps. He sped up, grumbling to himself. He certainly liked to grumble.

When he emerged, breathing heavily, from the staircase, he spied two of his four siblings at the end of the corridor. He sprinted after them, determined to catch up, through dozens of rooms, halls and corridors. Lily often complained that the Potter Manor was almost as big as Hogwarts, with all the secret passages and many stairs. In truth, it was a very big house, but not even close to Hogwarts. Perhaps one fifteenth of the size of the famous castle, but definitely not equal to it.

Andy suddenly was able to see all his siblings. Emily and Rose had caught up with the twins and he was merely metres behind. A few seconds later, they were in the Entrance Hall. The last few stragglers in the Order were entering the room. Surprisingly, Lily, James, Dumbledore and that Harry kid were all standing stationary in the hall. Harry looked earnest, hopeful and uncomfortable all at the same time. James and Lily were obviously explaining something to Dumbledore, and they kept referring to Harry, who seemed to be in a sort of daze every time they called on him. Dumbledore's expression was passive, though it bore signs of apprehension and uncertainty. The five children ducked into the hall and hid behind statues and other things near the corridor. They crept at close as they dared to the four talkers.

"Are you sure about this?" Dumbledore was saying, in an anxious tone. "This is somebody's life that's in the balance here. I'm not sure you fully appreciate the situation. By making rash decisions, we may as well sign poor Alastor's death warrant."

Harry looked rather indignant. "I fully understand what the risks are," he said in a more carrying voice. The others hushed him, and he continued with a quieter tone. "I've been in these situations many times. If Voldemort is out of power, he will try to make that potion. Blood of the enemy – that's Alastor, because he destroyed him. Flesh of the servant – one of the Death Eaters, obviously. Wormtail did it with me. Cut off his hand. And the final ingredient – bone of the father. So Voldemort naturally has to go to the Muggle graveyard at Little Hangleton to bring out his father's bone. You said the ritual was planned for tonight? That's what happened with me as well. Also, the sun has just set, so the ceremony could begin at any moment. I would consider it wise to make this meeting was quick and you followed my instructions, for I think it is safe to assume that what the Death Eaters and their lord are planning for tonight is exactly what I just described to you. I'm positive. They will brew the potion, add the three crude ingredients, and we have the megalomaniac back on our hands. He'll brag and boast and talk of how great his for a while. Then he'll get bored and to cheer himself, Voldemort will duel Alastor and kill him. Lovely bloke, isn't he? Knows just how to unnerve everyone.

"Alastor would have a big problem getting away alive, especially when Voldemort is feeling like killing for fun. He'll have a circle of who knows how many Death Eaters surrounding him as well. I managed to get a Portkey to take me away from that godforsaken place, but Alastor didn't have a Portkey to bring him there. And I doubt that if he did, the Death Eaters would have given it to him. Voldemort left it lying on the ground with me. Stupid thing to do. He could have gotten rid of me but he blew it."

James was squeezing the bridge of his nose extremely hard, something he did only when worried and/or anxious. Lily had her eyes closed and was breathing slowly and deeply. Dumbledore looked slightly stunned. Andy watched as Harry examined these reactions carefully. After a moment he spoke up again.

"I think they're going to be missing you," he said softly. "Please may I come as well? I can help you more than you could possibly know."

Dumbledore immediately pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked sharply at the boy. "You may sit in," he replied, his eyes searching the boy's face. "But I believe the rescue is a job best left to trained members of the Order, not impulsive teenagers. But I expect we could use your input with this theory of yours. However, if it were not for the fact you have a plausible theory, you would not be permitted into the meeting. Do you understand me?"

Harry looked highly offended. "I am not an impulsive teenager," he contradicted firmly. "I am an adult and I have learned to control such… emotions. I do not wear my heart on my sleeve. I have been trained, and I believe my training would be better than that of the official members."

Dumbledore smiled and began to walk towards the door. "Ah, youth," he sighed. "Where one always believes they know best. Alas, it cannot last long."

Lily and James quickly followed.

"Come on, Harry," Lily said, ushering James inside. She then slipped in herself.

Harry scowled after them. He trudged up to the door muttering along the way. The five children strained to make out what he was saying. Then, suddenly, the heard exactly what he said next. Clear as a whistle.

"Just wait until I duel Voldemort."

(--)

Dumbledore watched the young man seat himself in the around the large mahogany table. He noted that he had seated himself next to Fred and George Weasley with their girlfriends Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet respectively, along with the twins' long time friend, Lee Jordon and his girlfriend, Angelina Johnson. Fred Weasley leaned over to speak to Harry, and Dumbledore thought this was his cue to talk.

"Excuse me!" he called. The room fell silent instantly and every face was upon him. Fred Weasley pulled back to his own chair. "Today we have a young man sitting in on the meeting. He may become a member in the near future as well. The circumstances surrounding his presence are rather intriguing, but best kept secret. However, the Order will be privy to this information, but the general public will be given an entirely different story.

"I expect many of you have heard of alternate universes," Dumbledore said serenely. There was a general murmur of assent, and Dumbledore carried on. "It has never been proved they exist, until now. Our friend is living proof. He is the first cross-dimensional traveller I have ever met."

Several people muttered to their neighbours with interest, and the Weasley twins, Katie, Alicia, Lee and Angelina, all turned to Harry with fascination. Dumbledore smiled approvingly and began on another path.

"You all remember or know of the death of Lily and James' eldest son, Harry," Dumbledore continued. "That is what happened in this universe. However, in another universe, it was Lily and James who died. Somehow, Lily and James' son from the alternate plane managed to cross over to here. So, today this is who will be participating in our meeting."

There were gasps of shock, and the Weasley twins stared at Harry, mouths hanging open. Several people glared at him suspiciously, making it was very obvious they thought he was a liar and had somehow fooled Dumbledore. Others looked at him with interest, as though the whole concept was not merely fascinating, but enthralling. They clearly agreed with Dumbledore that Harry was some kind of miracle.

"Also, I assure you he is not a fake," Dumbledore called in response to the murderous glances sent Harry's way, and thought it best to at least attempt to lay them to rest. "He has a rather interesting theory."

"Theory?" Cecil McMillan asked instantly. "Theory as to what?"

"Alastor Moody has been kidnapped by Death Eaters," Dumbledore said gravely. "A ritual is planned for tonight. In all probability, they will attempt to return Voldemort to power."

There was uproar. Many women screamed, men cursed loudly and others looked to be in shock. A few clutched the table before them and took deep, calming breaths. Some were on their feet, wands out. James Potter clutched his hair, whilst Lily rested her head in her arms. Only Harry seemed perfectly calm. If anything, he looked mildly surprised by the Order's reaction. The boy really had no idea of what this kind of thing meant. The Voldemort in his world had never caused utter destruction, it seemed. Harry had lived a sheltered life and seemed to be rather conceited. He acted as if he could duel Voldemort and win. In fact, he seemed very confident he could. Yes, he had had a few run-ins, but from what he'd said, he had largely survived by luck and chance. Not by his abilities. Dumbledore frowned, and turned his attention back to the Order.

"Harry has an idea as to what has happened to Alastor and where he might be," Dumbledore said loudly. Everyone shut up and turned to stare at Harry. The boy coloured and fidgeted. He didn't act as though he was enjoying the attention, which surprised the elderly man. Surely someone conceited in the same manner as him would love and bask in attention? Dumbledore frowned, but returned his attention to the conversation that had started up.

"Do you really?" Arthur Weasley spoke up, looking rather keen.

Harry nodded. "I think he's at the Little Hangleton graveyard," he replied. "Most likely tied to the gravestone of Tom Riddle Senior."

"Oh?" a silky soft voice interrupted. Severus Snape was staring at Harry with a slightly shocked expression. "And how did you come to that conclusion, if may I ask?"

Harry's face went white. He glared at Severus Snape in utter fury and loathing. His eyes flickered to Dumbledore, then down onto Snape's left forearm. Snape noticed this, and edged his arm under the table. This caused Harry to smile slightly and cock his eyebrow. Then his face was suddenly devoid of any emotion. He gazed into Snape's eyes and seemed to be conversing with him through Legilimency. Snape's face was contorted with effort. This young man was definitely giving him a run for his money. He was having difficulty fighting him off, but Harry seemed perfectly relaxed. Intrigued, Dumbledore tapped into the conversation, using a small spell.

"_Oh, I know you are_," Harry was saying smugly. "_And I know you plan to run to your master the moment this meeting is over. You have to tell him I know where Moody is, don't you?_"

"_I – never – no!_" Snape stuttered. "_You have no idea what I do!_"

"_Don't I?_" Harry asked, smoothly. "_You think you have everyone fooled. You've convinced Dumbledore you are a spy for him, when in fact, you are loyal to Voldemort. I have seen your true colours, Snape. I saw you murder only a year ago. You stick to the powerful ones. You are using Dumbledore's protection to keep you out of Azkaban, but the moment your master is powerful again, you'll go scampering back to him and start murdering again. You'll be his little spy and nobody will suspect you. Now isn't that the perfect life?_"

"_How dare you!_" Snape exclaimed. "_You have no experience in these matters!_"

"_I have more experience than you can begin to comprehend, Snape,_" Harry snorted. "_Oh, and don't think you'll be able to excuse yourself for a moment – I'm going to keep you in my sight until Moody is free. You won't have the chance to tip our dear old Snake-Face off._"

"_How dare you insult the Dark Lord?_" Snape hissed. "_He has immeasurable power! Do you know what he can do to you? You would be a dead man if you insulted him to his face, but I doubt you have that courage – or should I say arrogance?_"

"_I'll insult him whenever I want,_" Harry replied. "_Anyway, Snake-Face suits him. Before long he will look like a snake. With red eyes, no nose – eugh! He's a monstrosity!_"

Snape began to splutter, but Harry pulled out of the man's mind, resulting in Dumbledore surfacing into reality again. Dumbledore was stunned that Harry had the audacity to accuse Severus Snape of Death Eater activity. Everyone knew he had turned. Slightly angry on Snape's part, Dumbledore gazed at Harry for a moment, before coughing. Harry looked at him and stood up.

"Right," he said, shooting a filthy glare at Snape. "This is what is probably going to happen tonight…"

(--)

"Is. He. Insane!" shrieked Emily the moment the doors had shut behind Harry. "Duelling Voldemort! That guy has lost his mind! He's only a boy! He wouldn't stand a millionth of a chance!"

"Shh!" Sophie hissed, gesturing frantically at the doors. "They'll hear you!"

"No, they won't," Rose contradicted. "There's automatic sound-proof spells on those doors. They won't hear a word we say even if we screech at the top of out voices."

"Oh," Sophie said, gazing at them interestedly. "Right."

Emily ignored the exchange between her sisters. "How can he think of fighting Voldemort?" she cried, a note of hysteria creeping into her voice. "He's insane! He'd be dead in seconds and Voldemort would only have to flick his wand!"

"I told you he was stuck up," Andy said in a superior tone.

"And you're not?" Rose asked swiftly. Andy went bright red and began to splutter, but she turned her back on her brother and addressed the others. "I reckon we should tell Mum or Dad or Dumbledore what he plans to do."

"What?" Nick asked. "He didn't say anything about actually planning to duel Voldemort. He just mentioned it."

"Anyone who can talk about Voldemort the way he was, definitely does not just _mention_ that sort of thing," Emily reasoned, calming down. "They mean it. Idiot," she added idly.

"I agree," Andy said pompously. "I think we should report this to Dumbledore."

"Unless he already knows," Nick said in earnest. "He knows everything."

"Uh-huh," Sophie nodded, agreeing with her twin.

"He doesn't have ears and eyes everywhere," Rose said, furrowing her brow. "But it sounded like that boy – Harry – was planning on telling the Order, so I expect Dumbledore knows at least something about it."

"I think so too," Emily agreed. "We wait for the meeting to finish, and then we catch up with him. Whenever he's here, he always goes to Dad's study or down to the kitchen. We won't miss him."

"Sounds good to me," Rose said. "But someone should stay here to be on the safe side. We don't want to loose track of the time and he's already left by the time we realise."

"I'll wait," Sophie said instantly.

"You sure?" Nick asked her in surprise. "We should take shifts…"

"Nah, I'm fine," Sophie grinned. "I want to wait."

"Okay, Soph," Rose said. "We'll be – in the playroom?"

"Yeah," Emily agreed. She glanced at the doors. "I don't reckon the meeting is going to take very long, but anyway," she sighed slightly and turned to face Rose. "Chess, Rosie?"

"Sure, if you don't mind losing," Rose teased.

Emily pretended to look outraged. "How dare you!" she cried in mock anger. "This match will be over in two minutes and I'll be the victor with a new world record!"

"We'll put that claim to the test then, Emmy," Rose cocked an eyebrow. "Come on!"

They raced up the main stairs. Their footsteps could be heard thundering down the corridor and then a door slammed. Andy and Nick exchanged looks. Then Nick spoke up.

"Gobstones?" he asked.

Andy shrugged. "Sure."

And they were gone too. Sophie sighed, and settled on the bottom step. She had some serious thinking to do.

(--)

Harry glared at the objector. Galfrid Faust. Harry hadn't known him in his universe, and he was glad. This man was highly annoying.

"Why would You-Know-Who use a Muggle graveyard for his rebirth?" he asked aggressively. "He hates muggles. This all seems highly improbable."

"I've told you," Harry said, exasperated. "This is the graveyard where his father was buried. He needs his father's bones for the potion. If he wants power and at least a body, he has to go to this graveyard. It's not a matter of liking or disliking muggles."

"How do you know all this?" Frank Longbottom asked. "It does seem like the kind of thing Voldemort would do, but I doubt he would make you privy to his plans."

"No, he wouldn't," Harry agreed. "But I'd rather not say how I know. Just let me assure you, this is what he plans for tonight. Every Death Eater will see the mark become clearer. Shortly after this, Alastor Moody will be dead. If we are going to stop this, we need to move fast."

"But it might be protected by the Fidelius Charm," Alicia Spinnet argued. "Then what?"

"It isn't," Harry replied. "If it were, I wouldn't be able to speak its name to you and even if I did, you wouldn't be able to hear. You could hear me, so there is no charm on the place. Though it would have been a wise move on Voldemort's part to employ the charm, he hasn't, so we can go there. I suggest we leave now."

"Hold on one moment, young man!" Faust called out. "We? I don't think you should come! You are only a boy, a cocky one at that. You wouldn't be able to handle yourself in a battle, should it come to that."

Harry opened his mouth to make a heated retort, but Dumbledore interrupted him.

"I agree with Galfrid," he said serenely. "You are young and doubtless inexperienced. It would be a danger to everyone should you come along."

"I think he's earned the right, though, Albus," Alice Longbottom contradicted him. "He came up with a likely theory and I believe he should come. Probably disillusioned, but there. He also seems to know where this place his is talking about is. We haven't a clue and Alastor may die if we do not find him fast enough. He can show us."

Dumbledore looked at Harry. "Would you agree to being disillusioned, my boy?" he asked calmly. "And to keep your distance?"

"I'd rather not be disillusioned," Harry replied, knowing if he played his cards right, he would be able to get things to go his way. "And I can't promise to keep my distance, but I can try."

Dumbledore looked as if he didn't like the sound of that, but he nodded. "Very well," he said. "But I want you to try as hard as you can to stay away from the action. We can't afford to have to cart you away."

"Agreed," Harry replied straight away. "Look, we have to go _right now_!"

"Alright," Dumbledore said. "Seeing as you know the place, why don't you make portkeys for us all? Using, perhaps – these?" he held up a handful of chocolate frog cards. "Four or five people to a Portkey?"

Harry nodded. "You have authorization?" he asked, taking them.

"I have the right to authorize," Dumbledore replied. "Because I have just given express permission, they are authorized portkeys."

"Ah," Harry nodded. He tapped eight cards and handed them out. He had two left. "One for Alastor and one for you and I," he told Dumbledore, when the old man raised an eyebrow. "Okay, one, two, three!"

(--)

Sophie was pulled from her thoughts by a sudden feeling of emptiness. She cautiously got up and walked over to the doors of the Order's meeting room, scarcely thinking of anything but what might create the emptiness. She felt around for the charm that indicated they were still in a meeting, but it wasn't there. Getting nervous, she opened the door and looked in. The room was completely empty, save a small house-elf in the corner.

"Nessa!" she exclaimed.

The elf jumped and ran forwards, curtseying as she went. "Miss Sophie!" she squeaked. "What is you doing in here? You is not meant to be here, oh, no, no!"

"When did the Order leave, Nessa?" Sophie asked. "Tell me, I don't care what my mum or dad said, I need to know!"

"They is taking portkeys," Nessa replied, wide-eyed. "The new boy is making them! The new boy from the new universe!"

"Harry?" Sophie said, astonished. "He's from another universe? Are you serious?"

"Yes, yes!" Nessa squeaked. "They is taking them – oh, Nessa cannot tell what the Order is discussing in meetings! Nessa is not allowed!"

"Okay," Sophie sighed. "Secret Order business, right?"

Nessa gulped.

"Oh, right, you're not allowed to say!"

Nessa looked quite relieved.

Sophie grinned, and leaned back out the door. "EMMY! ROSIE! NICK! ANDY!" she screamed.

She heard them thundering down the corridor and then down the stairs at an amazing speed. Crashing and thumping, the landed, and sprinted over to her. They stared at the room in dismay.

"Oh, Sophie, you didn't miss them!" Emily moaned. "Don't tell me you left!"

"I didn't!" Sophie protested. "They left by portkey. That's what Nessa said, and she was here. She said Harry made them and that Harry's from another universe! She can't say where they all went though."

"Damn!" Emily stomped her foot. "Now what? That Harry kid – wait! Did you say he's from an alternate universe?" she gaped at Sophie incredulously. "No way!"

"Way," Sophie quipped. "That explains a lot about him though, doesn't it? He suddenly appears and Mum and Dad seem quite okay with him from the off!"

"They is wanting him," Nessa said softly. "They is wanting him very bad and he is wanting them too."

"What does he want with our parents?" Andy demanded.

"Nessa cannot say," Nessa shook her head. "Oh, no! Master and Mistress is wanting to tell you face-to-face. It is being a very special thing!" Nessa curtseyed and disapparated, probably to the kitchens.

"Oh, man!" Nick complained, glaring angrily at the spot she'd been in not a moment earlier. "Something big is happening around here and not even the house-elf will tell us!"

(--)

Alastor Moody tried to fight off three Death Eaters tying him to a gravestone in a graveyard not far from the house he'd been kept in. Another forty or so stood perhaps fifty metres away, littered between the graves. Moody was still adjusting to the large audience. He hadn't seen anyone since his capture until these three showed up. He'd been locked in a cellar with nothing to eat or drink. He'd long ago lost track of the time.

"Comfortable, Moody?" one of the Death Eater sneered.

Moody glared at him, now firmly bound.

"I thought not," the same Death Eater laughed. "Look at the great Alastor Moody now! You'll be dead soon, Moody! And the whole world will know that you were never a match for the _truly_ great Dark Lord!"

They moved away, laughing like the maniacs they were. Soon they were out of his sight, but moments later they were back, carrying a cauldron between them. It was full of something that looked like water, by Moody knew by experience that it probably wasn't. He didn't recognise it, however. This puzzled him. He thought he knew every potion in the book. Though knowing Death Eaters, the potion was more than likely illegal, and so obscure and evil, that nobody, except someone wanting something to serve their express purposes, would know of.

The Death Eaters kindled a fire, making in burn strongly. Soon the entire area around the cauldron was filled with thick steam and the substance within began to bubble and send off fiery sparks. The haze began to blur the outlines of the Death Eaters who were crouched, keeping the fire alight and strong.

Another Death Eater appeared from behind a gravestone. He held in his arms a strange bundle, which was moving. Moody shuddered to think what monstrosity was wrapped inside those robes.

"Are you ready?" the Death Eater with the bundle hissed. Moody froze. He knew that voice. He knew it very well. But before he could gather his thoughts, the Death Eater continued. "Is everything prepared?" he stepped up to the cauldron and turned his head to each of his fellows, waiting for their individual nod of assent. "Very well."

Another Death Eater stepped forth and removed the robes from whatever was within them. Moody cursed. It was scarcely human and utterly vile. It had red eyes. The Death Eater held him like it was a gold nugget and cackled with glee. A woman's cackle. She leaned over the cauldron and let the 'thing' fall in. Moody heard a dull thud as it hit the bottom.

The Death Eater, who had brought the thing in, laid the robes on the ground and pulled out his wand.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!" he exclaimed.

Moody heard a noise and his feet, and looked down. The surface was opening slowly. From the slight hole, a small cloud of dust lifted up and sprinkled itself on the substance within the cauldron. Instantly, it was claimed by the potion, which turned a sickening blue the moment the specks of dust were gone.

"Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master!" the Death Eater cried.

The woman took a dagger and stretched out a hand. Slowly, and with great arrogance, she raised the dagger high into the air. She behaved as though what she was about to do was a great honour. Moody, realising what was to happen, allowed his eyes to widen and he looked away in revulsion as first a shriek, and then a splash reverberated around the graveyard. He turned back and saw that the potion had become a piercing red and the woman's hood had fallen away. It was Bellatrix Lestrange. Her face was twisted into a gruesome smile and her eyes were lit up in triumph.

The Death Eater who had asked if Moody was comfortable approached with his own dagger. He shoved Moody's left sleeve up and paused.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!" the Death Eater with the wand bellowed.

It was fast as lightening. The Death Eater dragged the dagger down Moody's arm drawing an immense amount of blood. He caught it in a vial. He then took it back to the cauldron and emptied it into the cauldron. Immediately, the potion was whiter than Moody believed was possible. Sparks flew everywhere, going berserk. The Auror recoiled, not liking the idea of these sparks touching him, but, suddenly, the sparks stopped. Just like that. Instead, a thick white steam rose from the cauldron, followed by a figure. A tall, thin figure. All the Death Eaters, save Bellatrix, rushed forward and pulled the robes over the figure's head. Then it stepped from the cauldron and the steam, and Moody saw the face of a man he had hoped never to see again.

Voldemort.

(--)

Harry landed easily behind the Little Hangleton Church, Dumbledore by his side. All around him, members of the Order were also appearing. Dumbledore turned to him, a grave expression on his old face.

"Where is the graveyard?" he asked, with an enviable calm. Harry lifted his right arm and pointed. Down a small slope, tombstones were poking up, and somewhere between them, a thick white smoke rose, creating a bright haze. At the sight of this smoke, Harry felt a chill run up his spine.

"We're too late," he said, resisting the urge to vomit. "Voldemort is back – you see the steam? That means the potion is complete. We took too long getting here."

"But we can still save Alastor?" Dumbledore asked him, a note of fear entering his voice. "We're not too late for that?"

"No," Harry said, standing up straighter. "But hurry, he has but minutes left."

"Stay here," Dumbledore ordered. Harry scowled, but leant back against the Church wall as a sign he was not going anywhere anytime soon.

Dumbledore nodded his approval and began walking briskly down the hill, quickly followed by the Order. Harry watched them for a moment, letting them make it a decent way down the slope, and then followed, keeping in the shadows and keeping his distance. As he reached a large oak tree about one hundred metres from the first grave, a loud shout filled the eerie silence. Harry looked out cautiously from behind his tree and saw an explosion of spells. Duels were starting up. Harry sprinted out from his hiding place and ran into the graveyard. Appearing right in front of him a duel between Faust and two Death Eaters was taking place. Faust wasn't doing at all well. Harry effortlessly stunned both Death Eaters and tied them up, before turning to their opponent.

"Watch your back," he said to Faust. "You could have been killed."

He left a shocked Faust behind him as he ran on. He took down several Death Eaters as he ducked through duels, racing towards the cauldron. He raced around a few more gravestones and approached the grave of Tom Riddle Senior, where, as Harry had predicted, Moody was tied – from behind.

"Alastor!" he whispered, crouching beside the famous Auror. Glancing around, he flicked his wand and Moody's ropes fell away. He flicked it again, and another wand soared into his hand. He turned back to Moody. "I'm giving you a portkey which is going to take you directly to the Entrance Hall in the Potter Manor," he explained, shoving the wand and the portkey into Moody's hands. "And here's your wand, as well."

Moody opened his mouth, but Harry shushed him.

"No time!" he put his wand on the card. "One, two… three!" he pulled away.

Moody vanished, his eyes still wide with surprise. Harry let out a deep breath, a weight lifted from his mind, and stood up, looking around quickly, expecting for a sudden attack, his wand raised.

"Well, well, well," an evil female voice Harry knew only too well came from behind him, providing the 'attack' Harry had expected. He whirled around, his wand levelled in front of him.

"Bellatrix," he hissed, anger pumping through his veins. Her hood was down and her mask hanging around her neck. Her hair was aloft due to the wind, but extremely matted and unkempt. He glared at her, his eyes taking in every aspect of her appearance. They travelled down, and suddenly fixed upon a silver hand that looked far too familiar for Harry's liking. He once again resisted the urge to vomit, and pulled his eyes away from the wretched silver hand. They fixed on her face, which was twisted into her signature sneer. However, it had none of the gauntness and hollowness that had been so prominent in her eyes as Harry remembered. The maniac gleam was there in full strength and it was very clear she was around the height of her beauty. Harry could only conclude this Bellatrix had never been to Azkaban. He looked at the state of her robes, and caught another glimpse of the repulsive hand. This time he couldn't hold back and spoke to her.

"Your master gave you a lovely new hand to replace the one you sacrificed for him, did he?" Harry asked in a mock courteous voice, as he yet again prevented himself from vomiting. "How kind…" he trailed off, his own sneer developing.

"You filthy little mudblood!" Bellatrix hissed. "How dare you mock me and the Dark Lord? He is greater and more powerful than you can ever hope to be!" she aimed her wand at him. "_Crucio!_"

"I doubt that," Harry said, deflecting the curse soundlessly. "And for someone who puts such stake on blood purity, you really should check what people are, before you start accusing them of being Muggle-Born. I have the same level of purity as your beloved master – but my parents are both magical, which is more than I can say for him."

"_Avada Kedavra!_" Bellatrix shrieked.

Harry dodged and shot several spells in quick succession. She fell to the ground unconscious and bound. Shaking his head, he moved away. She had barely put up a fight. He had expected so much more. She had been far too easy to provoke.

He looked around the graveyard, and saw, to his horror, countless members of the Order down. Many were bloody and unconscious. He rushed forwards, diving into the fray. His parents were duelling twelve Death Eaters and losing obviously. He stunned three Death Eaters as he came up to the duel and immediately engaged with seven, leaving his parents to deal with one each. He threw up his shield and shot several stunners and powerful curses at them. Most were too surprised to react and five fell at once. After that, Harry took down the remaining three with relative ease, before turning to help his parents. Both were having difficulties, having been exhausted from their previous duel. Harry threw a shield spell at them, and the next curses rebounded. One jet of light was green, and the Death Eater was killed by his own reflected curse. The other Death Eater had fired the Cruciatus Curse and the he began screaming. Harry lifted the curse, and stunned him. Much as he hated Death Eaters, he hated pain and suffering more. He halted the curse when another would have probably allowed it to continue.

"Bind them," he whispered to his parents, who were staring at him in shock. "Quickly – before anyone else attacks you!" he ran towards another desperate duel without waiting to see they had done as he asked. There simply wasn't time.

Harry assisted in three duels in quick succession. He was moving around, looking for another Order member in trouble, when he saw Dumbledore and Voldemort. Harry streaked forwards, just as Voldemort had Dumbledore pinned against a tree. With anger twenty times that he had felt with Bellatrix filling his body, he blasted Voldemort away from the Headmaster and approached. Voldemort shot an '_Avada Kedavra_' at Harry, and got to his feet within seconds. Harry dodged the Killing Curse and fired a stupefy back, holding his emotions in check – barely. Voldemort deflected the stunning spell, sending it back to Harry, who deflected it again, sending another spell at the same time. A moment later, the two were locked in a furious duel. Harry dodged and reflected spell after spell, shooting increasingly dangerous curses at Voldemort himself. Harry saw a blue light coming at him and he dodged – right into the path of a green one. He turned, and reappeared behind Voldemort, and attacked once again.

Voldemort let out a roar of fury. "WHO ARE YOU?" he screamed, and then Disapparated to the other side of a monument. He aimed the Cruciatus Curse at Harry who deflected it, sending it back to it's originator.

"You're greatest nightmare," Harry grinned, ducking another Killing Curse. "An incredible pest."

Voldemort shrieked as Harry hit him with a cutting curse, making the first spell that actually hit its target. Voldemort healed the gash in an instant and shot yet another Killing Curse. "You haven't tried to kill me," he commented softly, using an old tactic to goad Harry.

"No," Harry said, perfectly calm, and keenly aware that Voldemort was trying to trick him. "That would be useless. You'd become what you were when you woke up this morning. You wouldn't die. I'm not that stupid, Riddle."

"My name is not Riddle!" Voldemort hissed, throwing a flurry of dangerous curses at Harry. Harry conjured a handsome shield, just like the one Voldemort used at the Ministry. Once all the curses had been deflected, he vanished it and began firing once again.

"Your father gave you that name," Harry replied. "Tom Riddle, wealthy member of the Little Hangleton community and resident of the Riddle House on top that hill up there. Husband of Merope Gaunt, direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and a muggle."

"How dare you?" Voldemort screamed. "I am a pureblood!"

"You're as much of a pureblood as you are descendant of Godric Gryffindor," Harry laughed. He vanished and reappeared ten feet from where he'd started. Shooting off a stunner, he spoke up again. "You love to lie, don't you? And almost nobody knows – you're such an accomplished Occlumens!"

Voldemort sidestepped another cutting curse. "My, my, aren't you cocky?" he asked lazily. Once again he tried to pull the goading trick.

"And you aren't?" Harry snorted. "I've never known a more self-adoring, stuck up, misguided and _cocky _person in my life! No, you have no right to accuse me of cockiness!"

Voldemort spluttered indignantly. He allowed his concentration to waver in anger, and Harry immediately took advantage of it. He levitated the dark wizard.

"Oh, dear!" Harry laughed. He flicked his wand and disarmed his opponent. "You are in a sticky situation, aren't you? Never lose concentration, Riddle! Never!"

Harry began spinning Voldemort like a top. Faster and faster the Dark Lord span, until Harry flicked his wand. Voldemort soared over the remaining duellers and crashed into a large memorial to Agnes Whitcombe. Laughing, Harry Apparated in front of him. Voldemort was lying, groaning, on the ground. Harry raised his wand to bind him, when he was struck on the back with a Disarming Spell. Harry whirled around as both his and Voldemort's wands flew into the grasp of a Death Eater. A strand of white blonde hair was just visible from under the hood.

"Malfoy!" Harry hissed. He wandlessly summoned his wand back and attacked. A moment later, Lucius Malfoy was a bloody mess on the ground, unconscious and bound. Harry was about turn back to Agnes Whitcombe's memorial, when a sudden movement caught his attention. Voldemort was back on his feet. He wrenched his wand out of Malfoy's grasp. Harry had his wand trained on him in an instant. But before Harry could do a thing, Voldemort Disapparated, leaving a devastated graveyard behind.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, what do you think? Let me know in a review - PLEASE! I LOVE REVIEWS! THEY'RE AWESOME!

I've started the beginning of Chapter 5 and I've written the plot down. I reckon it should be up within the coming week. No guaruntee, but, fingers crossed, eh? School holidays started on Friday, so I might not be working up to my usual speed - I'm going to the Commonwealth Games! Three days to go!

Sorry - I just had a mini spastic outburst.

Soooo. Review? Pwetty pwease wif thugar on twop?


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, here it is! The chapter that took far too long too long to write and post! I'm really very sorry! To make up for the long wait, Chapter 5 is the longest chapter yet! Again!

I also realised something. I haven't once posted a disclaimer. Terribly sorry. Here goes: **Absolutely nothing whatsoever from the Harry Potter universe belongs to me. If you ever thought it did, you might need to check into the mental ward at St Mungo's. The only things in this story that belong to me are the things such as the Potter crest, Asa, Sakimaand Galfrid Faust, so on- stuff that isn't in the books at all. Everything else belongs to (very lucky) J.K. Rowling.**

There you are! So none of this belongs to me. I'm only thirteen and nowhere near brilliant enough to dream up such a complex series!

I hope you like it! I've spent so long getting all the kinks out of it!

So... what are you waiting for? Read on!

* * *

Alastor Moody crashed onto something _very _hard. It sent surges of pain through his body that could rival his throbbing arm. He felt the natural urge to twist and moan, but his Auror instincts leapt into action and he tensed up, listening hard. His automatic reaction was to try to remain inconspicuous and assess the situation, though his common sense was telling him that he had just appeared out of thin air in who-knows-where, making one hell of a racket as far as he could tell. Though, of course, he was most likely surrounded by Death Eaters. That boy – who was he? Moody felt completely confident from experience that he was a Death Eater, and had taken an initiative to send him away from the fight before anyone could free him. Though the boy had freed him. He hadn't tied him up, _and _he'd called him, Moody, 'Alastor'. No Death Eater had ever done that. But he hadn't been wearing Death Eater robes. He had been dressed at a muggle, which was even stranger. Though admittedly his clothes ere in Slytherin green, if Moody hadn't seen him use a wand, he would have thought the boy was an ordinary, insignificant Muggle. 

Scolding himself for loosing concentration and sinking into thought, he dragged himself back to reality. Then, slowly Moody opened his right eye a little, and searched – within the small slit of space his half-open eye allowed him to see – for any sign of Death Eaters. To his utter surprise, he saw nothing, no indication that anyone was near him or anything along those lines. He growled mentally in annoyance and frustration – he didn't want anyone to hear he was awake, on the off-chance somebody _was_ there – and opened both eyes completely.

He couldn't do anything to stop it, not even long years of intensive Auror training could prevent him from swearing in absolute shock. Using words that would cause any mother to clamp her hands over her child's ears in horror and disapproval, he dragged himself to his feet, staring around as though he'd seen a ghost. He was in the Potter Manor Entrance Hall.

The boy hadn't lied. Shocked thoughts and possible scenarios raced through his mind at a mile a minute. He wondered if this was possibly a trap, a setup by the Death Eaters to lull him into some sense of security. However, even in the paranoid Auror's mind, this seemed just a little too far-fetched. And hardly anything ever seemed too far-fetched by his reckoning. Moody growled angrily and suspiciously, feeling a horrible knot of apprehension at the bottom of his stomach. It was almost like the one he'd felt when the Death Eater come to get him from his temporary prison and take him to the graveyard. _What the hell is going on?_ he thought furiously._ If this really the Potter place, then where is everyone? _He gripped his wand, which he was still holding from when the boy stuffed it into his hand. That was another odd thing. Maybe –

"Auror Moody?"

Moody froze. The voice came from behind him and was distinctly feminine. Ensuring his wand was ready to attack in less than a second, he whirled around to face the speaker. "_Stupefy!_" he roared, leaping into offensive mode, not even registering her appearance. He just knew she was a potential threat and he need to remove her as fast as possible.

The person screamed as the spell sped towards her, but she made no move to get out of the way. She fell to the ground, unconscious. Pleased, though still wary – what if there were more? – he hurried over to her.

She was a petite and black haired young person – probably not far out of her girlhood, if she even was. Moody couldn't identify her, because she was lying on her stomach, and her long, wavy hair was covering the little bit of her face that might have been visible. He didn't touch her – it might be a trap. Knowing it was better to be safe then sorry, he raised his wand again.

"_Incarcerous!_" he said firmly. Ropes appeared out of nowhere and secured themselves tightly around the black-haired young woman or girl. Somewhat satisfied, Moody stood decisively above her, training both his eyes and his wand on the stranger. She had an unknown power level – he had to be constantly vigilant.

He stood over her for no more than thirty seconds before a series of crashes, grunts and loud exclamations came from within a room just off to the side of the Hall. Surprisingly, he felt relieved, although he knew the noises could very easily have not been made by the Order members returning. Heart hammering, he turned to look at the doors.

Moments later they opened and the first person emerged. Moody realised, with an immense wave of relief, that this person was Albus Dumbledore. Forgetting all about his prisoner, he dragged himself over. He winced with each step, as his body moaned in pain and protest. Now he no longer had threats to occupy his mind, nothing was preventing him from feeling the full extent of his injuries.

"Dumbledore," he grunted, acknowledging the older man, though barely looking at him as his arm began to throb very painfully again.

Dumbledore turned a bright smile and a pair of twinkling eyes on the famous Auror. "Alastor," he said, sounding highly relieved himself. "Thank Merlin you're alright. You had us all quite worried!"

"Typical," Moody grumbled, quite frustrated with the head of the Order. He was too damn cheerful. "Skipping the morbid details, eh?"

"Not at all," Dumbledore replied pleasantly, as though he were having happy conversation with an old friend on a picnic or something of the sort. He didn't sound like the leader of a famous fighting organization talking to one of the best fighters in history. "I have to contact the minister. A fool though he is, it is hard to ignore something like the return of Lord Voldemort."

"Fudge managed it when he was minister," an entirely new voice interrupted. Moody jerked his head sharply in the direction of the voice's owner. It was the boy from the graveyard.

"What did you say boy?" Moody demanded; all thoughts of pain gone. He raised his wand threateningly.

The boy didn't look remotely afraid – he didn't even flinch, which was a remarkable achievement. Very few wizards could stand before Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody when his wand was trailed on them without quailing. The boy looked somewhat laid back, which increased Moody's suspicion. At Moody's intense expression, the boy began to laugh.

"I asked you a question!" Moody growled, glaring at the arrogant youth, allowing some of his suspicion to seep into his facial expression. "Answer me!"

"I said," the boy frowned slightly, his laughter not quite gone. "Fudge managed to ignore Voldemort's return," he paused. "For an entire year, to tell you the truth. Idiot," he added as an afterthought.

"What are you on about?" Moody demanded.

"Oh, that's a question you should ask Professor Dumbledore, I believe," the boy grinned. "I'm tired of talking. But I'm sure he'll tell you everything," he glanced at the Headmaster of Hogwarts. "Right, Professor?"

"Indeed," Dumbledore said, somewhat grimly. He turned back towards the doors, from which people were slowly beginning to trickle out. "Order of the Phoenix!" he called. He paused until everyone was facing him. "Emergency meeting!"

Dumbledore started back into the room, as did the rest of the Order. But he didn't make it halfway across the hall before an ear-splitting scream rang out, causing everyone to pause.

"ROSIE!"

The assembled crowd turned to see Lily Potter racing across the hall. Moody felt uncomfortable suddenly, and the reason soon became evident. Lily fell to her knees before the unconscious black-haired female Moody had stunned and tied up. His stomach suddenly had a horrible sinking feeling to it. He watched nervously (and Moody was hardly every nervous) as the redhead rolled the captive over. There was no mistaking that pretty face that was a mirror of Lily's own. It was indeed Rosie Potter.

"ALASTOR!" shrieked Lily; her face rapidly colouring until it was the exact same shade as her hair. Her hands shook with obvious anger as she released and awoke her eldest daughter. She checked the young girl was alright (which she was, though severely shaken), before scrambling to her feet and marching towards the most revered man in Wizarding society with a murderous look on her face. The entire hall braced themselves for the explosion. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" the tiger screeched.

"Lily –" Moody began. He would make the damned woman see reason. She had no right to scold him when her own daughter had crept up on him! But the fiery and furious redhead cut him off.

"YOU ATTACKED HER!" she screamed, her green eyes dancing furiously. "AND DON'T SAY SHE CAME UP BEHIND YOU, I BET SHE SPOKE TO YOU WHEN SHE WAS STILL A FAIR WAY AWAY! YOU. HAD. NO. RIGHT! _WHAT WERE YOU THINKING_?" the woman took a deep breath and opened her mouth to continue, but Dumbledore spoke first.

"Emergency meeting," he said quite calmly, as though nothing had happened. "Come along," he said no more. He just swept into the room.

The boy paused and stared at Lily in an almost calculating manner, though there was a fair amount of affection mixed in. He seemed to be thinking rather hard, and at the same time, fighting a strong urge to laugh. After a few moments, he realised both Moody and Lily were staring at him – though Moody's stare could have easily been called a death-glare – and turned on his heel. He hurried after Dumbledore, back into the room.

Moody and Lily exchanged furious glares before following – Lily somewhat reluctantly (she seemed to want to rant some more) –, leaving a befuddled and stunned teenage girl behind.

(--)

Harry seated himself rather calmly right next to Fred Weasley again. He couldn't help but notice George, Lee and Alicia were missing. A horrible feeling of unease rose up inside him and clenched at his stomach. He calm demeanour slowly falling away, he looked around the room and saw several empty seats. Including Snape's. Now he certainly felt uneasy. A feeling of horror swept over him. He felt suddenly very sick and needed, for the third time that night, to vomit. He had let Snape run. How could he have been so stupid? He was meant to watch the idiotic traitor! What had he been thinking?

"Thanks,"

Harry looked around in surprise. Fred was looking at him with a certain degree of sheepishness, but a fair amount of awe and gratitude mixed in. He stared at Harry with this odd expression in extreme earnest, making the younger man feel rather unnerved.

"For what?" Harry asked in a surprised tone, looking at Fred oddly.

Fred's eyebrows skyrocketed and his jaw fell open. "For what?" he breathed in a stunned voice. "For saving my life, that's what. And that of Katie and Angelina. We'd have been in St Mungo's with George, Lee and Alicia if you hadn't stepped in."

Harry felt a wave of relief flood over him. "They're not dead?" he asked, feeling just as stunned as Fred had sounded. That wasn't like Death Eaters. They aimed to kill, not to harm. He voiced this thought. "Why didn't the Death Eaters kill them?" he asked bluntly. There was never any point in beating round the bush when it came to discussing warfare. Apparently, Fred wasn't used to such behaviour, and he showed it, a look of utter horror and disgust flooding his features.

"What?" he gasped, barely choking the words out through his shock. It was obvious he had not expected Harry to say something so crude and shocking, not that Harry would have classified it as such.

Harry cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly, leaving an open and inquiring expression on his face. He opened his mouth to reply, but didn't get the words out, because just then a loud voice interrupted.

"Attention!" Dumbledore called. The Order, most of whom Harry now realised had been staring at him with mixed expressions of awe and resentment – looked away and towards Dumbledore. He smiled back at them with an unnerving, impassive smile. "I'm afraid we have had several injuries," he began seriously and gravely. His eyes swept across the table. Harry couldn't help but notice they lingered on him for a few seconds longer than anybody else. So did a couple of other people, but Dumbledore continued before anyone could say anything. "All those injured have all been taken to St Mungo's and should recover fairly quickly. A few of the injuries are quite serious, but in the hands of out Healers, everyone should be completely fine. Fortunately, there have been no fatalities, though there would have been, should young Harry not have stepped in," he inclined his head towards Harry, who scowled. Dumbledore had gotten the entire Order to stare at him _again_. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows slightly, before continuing. "I believe I am not the only person in this room who has underestimated you, my boy. You have my sincerest apologies and my greatest thanks."

Harry nodded jerkily. Much as he was irritated at the old man, he certainly didn't want too many stares for too much longer. He had more pressing issues he wanted to take care of. Like contacting his world. He could only imagine what a state everyone would be in. The Death Eaters might be slowly taking advantage of the panic his disappearance might ensue, even though he hadn't been gone more than a day. It seemed like so much longer. The attack on the Riddle House had been in the small hours of the morning, so that the Death Eaters could be taken by surprise. Surprise. It was an important element in any battle. He would never have been able to do so well in the graveyard that evening if he hadn't held that advantage. The Death Eaters of this world hadn't been expecting him. Harry hated to think –

"– a spy in our ranks. A traitor," Dumbledore said grimly, jerking Harry out of his thoughts. He focused on Dumbledore's face once more, suddenly intrigued. "As soon as the battle started, he slipped on a Death Eater mask and began attacking us. He duelled with Lily and James Potter, and shot a killing curse at them. Harry had, with impeccable timing, shielded them, and he was killed by his own curse. I do not believe he succeeded in passing information from our meeting to Voldemort."

Harry smiled. He knew perfectly well who the spy was. It seemed deeply satisfying he was responsible for his death. In Harry's own world he had caught up with the very same man, but before he could kill him, Aurors arrived and carted him off to Azkaban, leaving Harry very disappointed, though deep down he was disgusted with himself for wanting to kill anybody, even though the man had been responsible for so many murders.

"Who was it?" a very familiar voice called out. Harry recognised it instantly, and cricked his neck as he sped it around to see the speaker. Sirius was leaning on the table, balanced on his elbows, his glare almost eager. His face was playful and charming, and Harry had never seen him look so much like the best man in the Potters' wedding picture.

"I believe Harry knows the answer to that," Dumbledore once again nodded to Harry, who was, for the second time in a few minutes, yanked from his thoughts. Harry frowned. How would Dumbledore know he knew?

"Er –" Harry paused, furrowing his brow in confusion. He looked to Dumbledore, trying to ignore the eyes burning into him. He only hoped Dumbledore understood his questioning gaze.

"I tapped into your conversation with him earlier," Dumbledore replied, his eyes twinkling again. Harry felt his jaw drop. The sneaky old codger! He should have known. That was so Dumbledore-esque. Harry shook his head in exasperation.

"Okay then," Harry raised his eyebrows and took a deep breath, in preparation for the outburst. "It was Snape," he said, and squeezed his eyes shut as tight as he could.

Just as he expected, there was uproar.

"Snape! No, he can't be!" (Faust)

"Ha! I knew we couldn't trust the slimy git!" (Tonks)

"Snivellus! I knew it! He's always been up to his eyeballs in the dark arts!" (Sirius)

"I can't believe it! I thought you said we could trust him!" (Alice Longbottom)

"Slimy git! Dark slimy git!" (Fred)

"Quiet!" Dumbledore boomed. There was instant silence. "Snape is no longer a problem. What we must now do is send delegations to the ministry and those of neighbouring countries. We will also need some members go to such countries and find trustworthy, reliable contacts."

"Vat about my seester?" Fleur piped up. "She would be vairy willing to 'elp out. She 'ates zis 'Dark Lord'. She said she would love to fight 'im when she is older. Why not now, non? She would be – what is ze word?" she leant over to the blonde girl next to her – Lucy. "What is the word for 'inaperçu', Lucy?" she said. Lucy frowned momentarily, before smiling and turning back to Dumbledore.

"She means Gabrielle would be inconspicuous," Lucy translated.

"Yes, yes," Fleur nodded, keenly. "For 'oo would suspect a thirteen-year-old of being a spy? She is ze perfect candidate, you agree? Gabrielle would be so pleezed."

"Fleur, my dear, I believe it would be better to perhaps recruit your parents, not your younger sister," Dumbledore said, looking rather disapproving. "Though I do not doubt her enthusiasm, it would not be wise to have a young, impulsive teenager running around doing dangerous work."

"You accused me of being an impulsive teenager," Harry interrupted suddenly. In his universe, he knew Gabrielle quite well. She had not been a member of the Order, though she had watched students who were potential Death Eaters very closely and told her parents everything. She had indeed been perfect. Her Veela charm had assisted in removing all suspicion from her and she had been very successful. From the potential French Death Eaters, they had managed to keep tabs on highly vital Death Eaters and cut off much, if not all, of Voldemort's European support. They had succeeded, with little Gabrielle's help, in isolating him in England.

"Gabrielle is twelve – thirteen," Dumbledore stressed, staring at Harry intensely, who gazed back with equal fervour. "We are not talking about eighteen-year-olds; we are talking about mere children. It is far too dangerous."

"Back where I'm from, Gabrielle was a highly useful spy and had been for a year," Harry said calmly. "Thanks to her information, we managed to cut of what I believe was the entirety of Voldemort's European base. Thanks to her efforts, he lost all chances of falling back onto them, should he be pushed out of England. If I could meet this Gabrielle, I will be able to determine whether or not she is capable of spying. Your world seems very easy – it has none of the strains of war mine had, so I expect that had quite an influence on her personality. But I expect that the Gabrielle I knew is inside your Gabrielle, whether or not she has surfaced."

"I would not feel comfortable leaving a young man such as yourself to decide who our spies should be," Dumbledore said severely. Harry froze. He felt his temper rise and fought to control it.

"Did I not prove to you that I am more than capable tonight?" he demanded quietly, danger warnings flooding his voice. It seemed to a similar effect as a Full-Body-Bind, for the whole room had stopped moving and sat rigidly in their seats. Harry glared at them. They were too cowardly. "In my world, there was such destruction not one of you could imagine, even in your worst nightmare. The ministry had almost collapsed – they were too busy arresting innocent people to 'raise morale' too seriously act. They took away many willing fighters and chucked them in Azkaban or killed them. The ministry was so weak, Voldemort could have taken it in an instant, but he didn't, because they were _helpful_ to his cause.

"The Order was the only real light fighting force still on its feet, and even they had trouble. Voldemort was taking control. All the while, me and my two best friends were running around the country trying to make him mortal again. That's another problem you lot face. He's still immortal here – you haven't a hope in hell of killing him. Instead of finding out why he didn't die in '87, you sit back and worship Alastor for putting off a problem that you can leave to your untrained children. You didn't think what would happen then. Those kids don't know what they're up against. They think it's all so glamorous – to fight. Death never enters the equation for them. They haven't a clue of the terror. For Voldemort, they're the perfect people to oppose him. He can turn them over to the Dark side or just kill them in less than a second. He'll take over and Merlin knows what would happen to you all next. It would be complete devastation and you'll wish heartily you could go back and take active measures to prevent him returning, but, no matter what, people will always sit back and do nothing when they can. They never take advantage of the opportunities the right way. And Gabrielle is an opportunity. She could help so much, to such an extent you would not believe. And the reason you can not believe this is because none of you have any experience in full blown warfare against Voldemort. You continually underestimate him, and that will be your downfall."

There was absolute silence. The Order remained in a daze for several seconds after Harry stopped speaking. Nobody moved, not even Dumbledore. Eventually, though, he stood up. This shook them all back to reality, and they returned their attention to him, though many kept looking back at Harry was mixed expressions. Harry ignored them.

"Well, Fleur, do you think you can arrange for Miss Gabrielle Delacour to visit you for a week without raising suspicion?" Dumbledore said calmly. Fleur nodded, smiling broadly.

"Yes, of course," she replied in earnest. "Ma parents would not suspect a zing. Gabrielle has so wanted to visit for so long. Zey will be 'appy to let her go."

"Good, good," Dumbledore smiled at her. "And Bill, could you make some contacts in Egypt? Charlie, what about Romania? And Lucy, Michael – contact your families back in Australia and New Zealand (A/N: Couldn't resist!). We need all the help we can get."

(--)

Sirius stood outside the doors, waiting for James and Lily to finish up with Dumbledore. He was feeling quite excited now, he had been planning on visiting his best friend today, when the Order summons had come. Now everything was over, he could finally talk to them in private.

"Oh, Sirius, relax!" a young woman with long, curly, chestnut hair and deep blue eyes scolded him. "It's not the end of the world if we have to wait a few more minutes!"

"Yes, it is," Sirius whined pathetically. "I'm not going to be able to wait much longer, Natalia!"

"Goodness," Natalia laughed. "It's me who should _really_ be excited, not you! Calm down for heavens sake!" she slapped him playfully. Just then a familiar redhead left the meeting room. "Lily!" Natalia called, waving at her friend.

Lily saw her instantly. She held up her index finger and looked at Sirius and Natalia pointedly, before rushing back into the room. A moment later, she was back, dragging and rather stunned-looking James. Another person followed them out of the room with a curious expression.

"Oh," Sirius stopped and gazed at the boy with an odd, but awed expression. "It's that kid. Harry the Scary Dueller."

"Oh, Sirius, be serious for once!" Natalia groaned, immediately realising her horrible mistake. She slapped a hand to her forehead in annoyance.

Sirius, however, pulled himself up as tall as he could, and said, "My dear, I am _always _Sirius!" he grinned at her before beginning to chuckle at his own joke.

"I've never heard that one before. And I've heard my fair share of jokes from you."

Sirius stopped laughing and gazed at Harry, who was standing a fair way off and examining him as if he was trying to reassure himself that Sirius was really there. He looked almost as if his dreams had come true; his face bore a hugely elated smile. To Sirius, it looked very odd. He had only seen Harry wearing a highly concentrated, an ominous, or an indifferent look. To see this boy, who had proved himself highly talented, _smiling_ was rather disconcerting.

With a start, Sirius realised he had been gazing at Harry rather rudely. Harry was still looking – Sirius nearly called it hungrily – at him, though his eyes were flitting to Natalia rather curiously.

"Who are you?" he asked, his demeanour instantly cool, calm and collected again. It was obvious he'd never laid eyes on Natalia in his life.

"I'm Natalia Black," Natalia said, looking rather taken aback. She frowned at Harry, and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Black?" Harry's jaw dropped, and he looked between Sirius and Natalia as though they were an entirely insane concept. Then, slowly, a smirk began to form. He started to laugh and before long he was crouched over snorting in laughter. "Who in their right mind would marry you, Sirius?" he choked, looking up at Sirius once more, his eyes dancing with mirth. They twinkled in a scarily similar way to Dumbledore, Sirius decided. Harry obviously didn't notice – he was too focused on his own personal amusement. He dropped his head, and then raised it again to look Sirius directly in the eye. "I could never imagine _you _settling down!" he burst out. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, grinning like a maniac. Small snorts escaped from his mouth at irregular intervals and he allowed his head to fall once more.

"I must admit, I sometimes wonder if I'm insane too," Natalia grimaced, glaring at her husband. She acted as if she could not see or hear Harry's extremely entertaining behaviour. "Ideal boyfriend, so courteous and flirtatious, but a bloody pain in the rear once you marry the berk."

Sirius pretended to look insulted, as Harry laughed once again, even louder than he had before, if that was possible. Sirius glared at him and opened his mouth to give a furious retort, but Lily got in first.

"Ahem," she coughed, getting their attention. Even Harry's laughter died slightly. "Let's go to the living room, shall we?" she suggested. Like Natalia, she too behaved as if Harry were not having a fit of laughter every ten seconds.

There was a general muttering of agreement and the group strode toward the said room quickly. They all sat down on the sofas and armchairs, and all the while Harry continued to laugh mercilessly, causing Lily to glare at him with such intensity, that his jaw dropped. He stopped laughing instantly, which caused Lily to smile in satisfaction.

"Scary," he muttered, giving her looks as though she were some kind unfamiliar alien. His eyes were wide and his jaw – now slightly closed – was pulled back towards his neck.

"It is, isn't it?" James agreed, showing Harry a huge grin. He winked, ignoring Lily's indignant face. "That glare still gets me," he shuddered, whether it was fake or not, Sirius couldn't tell.

"No, it's just like looking at Mrs Weasley again," Harry said, still gaping at Lily. He didn't even glance at James. "Uncanny. Really, really uncanny," he too shuddered, though – from both instinct and later experience with the younger man – Sirius whole- heartedly believed in the sincerity of that shudder. "Mrs Weasley would flip if she thought she had competition," Harry continued unexpectedly, a small smile suddenly tugging at the right-hand corner of his lips.

"Which Mrs Weasley?" Sirius said in a sing-song voice, feeling very excited that someone had competition with Lily 'scary glare', which Rose had, most unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it – inherited and put to very good use.

Harry glared at him, both surprise and irritation showing very clearly on his face. "What d'you mean?" he asked suspiciously. He sat up a little straighter and furrowed his brow in confusion. "I mean, really – how many Mrs Weasleys can there possibly be?"

"Four," Sirius replied cheerfully. "Molly, Fleur –"

"Who would name their daughter, 'Flower', I don't know," Natalia said, frowning. "Poor girl."

"Fleur is a traditional French name," Harry and Lily said together. Everyone stared at them, and the looked at each other in surprise.

"Right," Sirius said slowly, grinning like a madman. "Molly Weasley married Arthur; Fleur Weasley married Bill; Lucy Weasley –"

"No, Lucy insisted on keeping her maiden name," Lily said. "No one does that in the British Wizarding World, but she did. Apparently she felt there were far too many 'Mrs Weasleys' around. She also said something about a family tradition. All her mother, aunts, both of her grandmothers, cousins and her sister kept their maiden name. Charlie wanted her to take Weasley, but she wouldn't hear of it. But I think he's slowly wearing her down. She may well be Lucy Weasley by Christmas."

"Uh-huh," Sirius said, somewhat dubiously. "So there's Molly Weasley, Fleur Weasley, Lucy Doherty-Weasley and Penelope Weasley married that git of a Percival Ignatius."

"Why do you call him that?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Because he's a pompous git and pompous gits always use their full, pompous names," Sirius explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Duh," he added for good measure.

"Definitely some changes there," Harry muttered, sounding regretful. "Shouldn't have expected… stupid. Knew there'd be changes."

"Changes?" James had caught what he said. "What do you mean by that?"

"Sirius is very different to my Sirius," Harry said, looking at Sirius with slightly disappointed eyes. "He's not as… mature. But there was a huge difference. You didn't suffer like my Sirius did."

"I've suffered," Sirius protested. "I've been through war. There's nothing worse than that. If that doesn't make you mature, I don't know what does!"

"War certainly makes you grow up fast," Harry said sadly. "Look at me," he paused and looked at them all seriously, before setting his gaze firmly on Sirius. "As to what made my Sirius so _mature_ – well, after my parents died in my world, what would you have done?"

Everyone stared at him in surprise. Sirius furrowed his brow, whilst James did the exact opposite – his eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. Both women shifted uncomfortably, exchanging stunned and frightened looks.

"Why do you ask?" Lily asked suspiciously. She tucked her hair behind her ear – it had been hanging in front of her eyes and obviously irritating her for quite some time. "I'm sure there is some relevance, but I don't see it. I do get the sinking feeling that it is horrifically obvious, though."

Harry grinned. "Sort of," he said, tilting his head and looking upwards in thought. "But, Sirius, say someone my parents trusted sold them out to Voldemort. What would you do?" he paused and glanced around apologetically. "I know it seems blunt and completely and utterly pointless, but please, just go along with me. You'll see what I'm going at soon enough."

Everyone exchanged looks, but remained silent, and looked to Sirius to hear his answer. He completely missed the looks and focused on the intense feeling of betrayal he had experienced that awful Halloween.

"Gone after the traitor," Sirius growled, feeling a burning fury at the bottom of his stomach. He scowled. "I'd have damn well made sure Peter bloody paid!"

"Exactly," Harry said regretfully. Once again, everyone looked at each other strangely. Harry ignored them and continued, his voice sounding heavier with each word. "But you never told Remus about the switch, did you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows and glaring at him.

Sirius shook his head. "No," he said softly, his mind going back to the horrible mistake he'd made. "We suspected him of being a Death Eater spy for Voldemort."

"So when you're trying to curse Peter, he blows up the street from behind, killing twelve people, cuts off his finger and runs down the sewers with the other rats, what would be the logical conclusion that most Aurors come to?" Harry said this all very fast, looking rather nervous and terribly depressed.

The room paused to take in what he'd said. When they finally registered it, jaws dropped and small shrieks escaped from Lily and Natalia's mouths.

"That I blew it up," Sirius was thunderstruck. No – no, he couldn't have... "I didn't – go to Azkaban, did I?" he breathed in horror. "No," he shook his head, voicing his denial. "Remus would have vouched for me," he held his head high; nearly convincing himself nothing had happened.

"The evidence was overwhelming," Harry grimaced, looking like he was forcing himself to relive horrible memories. "You never told him that Wormtail was the Secret-Keeper. He thought it was you. He was so mad that James and Lily were dead – he felt betrayed. And there were over fifty eyewitnesses in the street that said that you had done it. You couldn't defend yourself. You didn't even get a trial. You were unlucky."

There was stunned silence. Then –

"Unlucky, he says!" Natalia burst out in shock. "Unlucky! That, boy, is the understatement of the year!" she paused. "How do you know this if he was the only one who knew – if he was in Azkaban…?"

"Padfoot stepped in," Harry grinned, suddenly brightening up. He looked eagerly at Sirius. "Dementors can't sense animals as well as human. Guess who slipped through the bars and swam to the mainland?"

"Couldn't be me now, could it?" Sirius laughed. In his head he was chanting a very classic '_GO ME!_' chant. He resisted the urge to pump his fist in mirth and joy with extreme difficulty.

"There was one hell of a manhunt," Harry rolled his eyes, and clearly fighting a mischievous smirk. "I first saw you on the Muggle news. I thought you looked like a vampire."

Lily, James and Natalia burst out laughing. James fell backwards into the cushions, whilst Natalia nearly tumbled off the sofa, causing Lily's already near-hysterical giggles to intensify. For Harry, it just became too hard for him to withhold his own smirk any longer. It burst onto his face and quickly increased to laughter. During all this, Sirius froze as a numb shock washed over his body. He scarcely registered the laughing atmosphere. He, Sirius Black, had just been informed he had born a similar appearance to a vampire.

"W-what happened to me?" he stammered, feeling all his features and his hair with shaking hands. He hated to admit it, but he was too vain for his own good. "How did I end up like that?"

"Twelve years in Azkaban with nobody looking after you does do that to you," Harry raised his eyebrows, and the laughter around them slowly died. "You get a bit – how should I say this? You get a bit 'roughed up'," he snorted, and examined Sirius with interest, his eyes staring at Sirius' for the longest period of time. He pulled back and looked around and the older occupants of the room. "My uncle felt strangely compelled to compare my hair to yours when he saw you too," he rolled his eyes heavenwards, trying to see his own hair, though the eyes in question were narrowed, as if remembering something unpleasant that he would much rather forget. "This mess –" he jabbed his index finger at his hair pointedly "– compared to your long, untamed, filthy hair that had suffered through twelve years in Azkaban. Imagine," he tried unsuccessfully to flatten his unruly mess, his eyes flashing in both anger and annoyance.

"Your uncle?" Lily asked suspiciously, ignoring Sirius and James' hearty chuckles. Natalia shot Lily a curious look, her brow as creased as humanely possible. Lily ignored the look as well, and keep her gaze-bordering-on-glare fixed on Harry, who didn't seem at all cowed.

He just looked at her in the utmost surprise, all previous signs of annoyance or anger completely gone. "Yeah," he nodded, raising an eyebrow inquiringly. "I got dumped on him and his idiot family's doorstep when you two died Dumbledore decided it was for the best."

"Who?" James asked, displaying very Ron-like qualities. "Surely not the Blacks? Dumbledore would have more sense than that, wouldn't he? Though my mother was Dorea Black, you know."

"Yes, I know," Harry replied, giving James a small grin. "No, not the Blacks. The Dursleys. Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and _Dinky Diddydums_, otherwise known as Dudders or Popkin. Known by his 'gang' as Dud or Big D."

Sirius and James roared with laughter. Harry smiled dryly. Natalia giggled slightly, keeping half an eye on Lily. Lily looked as if she was slowly suffocating. She seemed to be growing a mile a minute and her face was turning as red as her hair. Slowly, as everyone caught sight of her face, the laughter died.

"If I ever get my hands on your Dumbledore, I'll kill him!" she screeched, suddenly giving off the impression of a madwoman, causing the whole room to recoil. "Placing any magical child with them would be dangerous, let alone my son!" she continued ranting, her eyes bulging. She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Oh, my God – what did she do to you?"

"Nothing too drastic," Harry assured her hurriedly, his own eyes quite wide – though with shock, rather than a crazy rage. He shot a look at James and Sirius, before continuing. "Anyway, you won't be able to kill my Dumbledore," his eyes dropped and his voice became monotone and depressed. "My Snape beat you to it. Dumbledore died just over a year ago."

"And that husband of hers!" Lily shrieked, clutching her hair and seemingly not to have noticed any of what Harry had said. "He's awful! He wouldn't be capable of looking at any magical child without feeling the urge to kill it or something! Did he hurt you?" she demanded.

Harry leant backwards into his armchair, looking very much as though he would like to get out of the room. "Scarcely," he replied, gripping the armrests, eyes darting towards the doorway. "Sirius was handy when it came to blackmailing them into letting me do normal stuff."

"Like?" Lily said dangerously. Harry obviously decided the best thing to do was to ignore her dangerous tone and talk normally or as if nothing was really happening, probably in the hope it would calm her down. But Sirius knew nothing could divert her attention now.

"Going to stay with friends," he began cheerfully, ignoring everyone else in the room. His forehead was clenched in concentration. He seemed to be thinking quite hard. After a moment, he paused and began to talk very quickly, shooting James a rather uncertain and worried look. "Going to the Quidditch World Cup, stopping them from locking my stuff up, stopping them from locking _me_…" he stopped, realising his mistake. Lily was on her feet instantly, her eyes blazing. Harry gulped. "…up," he finished nervously.

"Locking you up?" she asked quietly. Her voice was so soft, it was barely audible. A sure sign she was more than just plain furious. She was enraged and bent on revenge. Sirius had plenty of experience in her temper. He looked at Harry sympathetically, before returning his attention to Lily. She was breathing slowly and deeply. "They locked you up?" she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Erm –" Harry bit his lip and let his eyes dart around the room. He looked unsure of how to answer and seemed desperate to get away. Far, far away.

"I asked you," Lily said, her voice shaking with the utmost fury. "Did they lock you up? Ever? Even if it was only once, tell me. Tell me right now."

"I – er –" Harry's teeth dug harder into his lip. Lily gazed at him with some kind of furious indignation. He gulped and gave the smallest of jerky nods.

Lily opened her mouth with obvious intent to rant. Sirius suddenly felt a mad desire to rescue the poor boy from her wrath. He took a deep breath.

"NATALIA'S PREGNANT!" he cried.

Silence. Time seemed to stand still. Then...

Lily sat down rather hurriedly, her eyes wide in shock. James, who had been balancing precariously on his chair, fell off with a loud _thump_. Harry's jaw dropped and he began making very strange choking noises. Natalia smacked her forehead and moaned.

"_What?_" Lily and James asked incredulously.

Sirius grinned sheepishly and looked directly at Harry, who smiled at him. Their eyes locked. Suddenly, Sirius felt the push of Legilimency in his mind. He immediately slammed his defences into place, but he felt a strange unease – and a moment later, his defences disintegrated.

"_Well, that was one way to distract her completely,_" Harry said in amusement.

"_I just saved you from Lily!_" Sirius protested. "_And you invade my mind!_"

"_Sorry, Sirius,_" Harry's voice echoed in his mind. "_Don't think you're horrible if you can't keep me out. You're actually very good. I'm just… very, very good._"

Sirius whimpered. Lily, James and Natalia looked at him in surprise.

"_Oh, Sirius, come on,_" Harry snorted. _"It's not that bad. At least I didn't make it painful for you._"

There was a long pause. Sirius could feel Harry thinking quickly, but Harry was such a good Occlumens, that, no matter how hard he tried; Sirius couldn't hear the boy's thoughts. "_Hey – want to see your picture on the front page?_" Harry asked out of the blue.

Before Sirius could make any response, an image of the _Daily Prophet_ popped into his mind. A gaunt man, with white, waxy skin and matted, grimy and long, black hair stared hollowly up from the main picture.

Sirius howled in grief – out loud. The shocked stares from his wife and best friends burnt at his skin but he ignored them. He couldn't pay attention to anything as trivial as them, if he had ever looked like – like _that_! He whimpered again. Harry smirked mentally and withdrew from Sirius' mind. Sirius turned slowly towards Lily, James and Natalia, making small noises like a wounded dog.

"Whoa, Padfoot!" James exclaimed in a slightly stunned voice. "What just happened then?"

"Yes," Lily agreed, sounding as if his behaviour was somehow disturbing. "What on earth is wrong with you?"

"AND WHY DID YOU JUST SHOUT OUT FOR THE WHOLE BLOODY MANOR TO HEAR THAT I'M BLOODY PREGNANT, SIRIUS ORION BLACK?" Natalia shrieked, her eyes bulging insanely. She paused, gazing at him threateningly, and then drew her wand swiftly. She pointed it directly between his eyes and jabbed his shoulder with the index finger on her wandless hand. "I'LL HEX YOU FROM HERE TO NEXT CENTURY!" she pointed with the same index finger at her wand, and glared at him with a look that would have rivalled Lily's a few moments ago. "THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE _MY _NEWS!"

she continued screeching. She opened her mouth to continue, but Lily put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Natalia relaxed slightly at her best friends touch, but took a few minutes before lowering her wand and tucking it away. She slumped back into the sofa, but not before shooting an absolutely terrifying death-glare at her husband – one that would cause anyone under the age of thirteen to burst into tears. It was one of her specialties. With it, she controlled her husband and children, and often James and his children too. One of her favourite people to use it on was Andy, because she got such a big reaction out of him.

"I used Legilimency on him," Harry announced suddenly. "I think I just spoiled his personal image of himself as being so handsome, nothing can change it. I showed him his oh-so-handsome picture on the front page of the _Daily _Prophet. He definitely looked vampire-ish in that photograph."

Sirius let out a weak moan.

"Oh, Sirius, shut up," Harry said in a bored tone. "You got better, don't worry. By the time I spent the summer with you, two years after you escaped, you looked fine. Everything was almost normal. You were shouting at your mother's mad portrait, hating Kreacher and trying desperately to get rid of the Black Family Tree. Unfortunately, you couldn't. Your mad mother put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it."

"That's it!" Sirius exclaimed.

Everyone eyed him uncertainly, except Natalia, who shook her head in an oh-no-not-again manner.

"What's it?" she asked resignedly, closing her eyes in defeat. She took a deep breath and sighed.

"The Black Family Tree!" Sirius said excitedly. "We can name the kid from there! We already used James' parents' names, so we need something new! We can't call the kid James, can we?"

"Yes, you can," James replied.

"Oh, shut it," Sirius said, barely glancing at James.

"You hate the Blacks," Natalia said in shock. "Why on earth would you name this child after one of them? I'm not having a child name Walburga or Cygnus! Absolutely not!"

"Merlin, no!" Sirius said in shock. "I mean disgraced Blacks, like Andromeda, or Uncle Alphard, or James' Uncle Marius!"

"We're not using Andromeda, because she is still alive," Natalia said firmly. "Nor Marius. Who would name their kid 'Marius', for Merlin's sake? It's such a horrible name!"

"James' mum's dad named his son that!" Sirius protested.

"So?" Natalia asked. "That was over fifty years ago," she paused. "Tell you what. If you can find a nice, fairly normal name – or something that can be shortened, like Charlus – then that's what we'll name this child. Can you handle that? But you have to find the name. I'm not going through pages and pages of old family notes to find people who have been disowned."

"Alright, m'dear," Sirius stood up and bowed. "I will see what I can do. Soon enough, we'll have Bella and Cissa hissing in fury."

Harry shook his head, hiding a smile. James and Lily exchanged looks and rolled their eyes.

"Do Dory and Chaz know you're pregnant?" Lily asked. "Or Remus, Andromeda, Nymphadora and Ted?"

"No," Sirius said. "You're the first people we've told."

"Who're Dory and Chaz?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Our kids," Natalia replied, smiling brightly. "Dory is fifteen. Her full name is Dorea, for your grandmother."

Harry's jaw dropped. It was certainly getting a lot of exercise tonight.

"Chaz is thirteen, but he'll be fourteen in two weeks. His full name is Charlus, for you grandfather." (A/N: One of my friends is called Chaz by all his friends, except me. I call him Charlie though, because we've been friends since we were babies. I decided on Chaz for his nickname, because we can't have two Charlies, can we?)

Harry closed his eyes. "I think I'll just go upstairs," he said, opening them again. "I'm tired."

He stood up and left the room quickly, but Sirius caught just a few odd phrases such as "this place is crazy" and "Sirius got married" and "looking for disgraced names for his kid. Mad".

(--)

Harry shut the door to his room and flung himself onto the bed. This world was full of surprises. He really just needed to sit down and have a good, hard, completely uninterrupted think. And he needed to make contact with his world. He just had to speak to Ron, Hermione and Ginny. Thank Merlin Asa had been able to travel between universes. He could bring them over to help out – and he would have no trouble getting home. He felt rather lucky and relived. Normally, knowing his luck, he would have been faced with endless problems to figure out. Maybe, finally, some things were going _his _way. Smiling contentedly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked around the small room, hoping to spot his loyal phoenix. He noticed her immediately, settled on the perch right next to Hedwig, with Sakima dangling next to them.

"Asa," he said calmly, he voice quietly commanding, but still light and friendly. It was the tone he always used with her when he really needed something. She glanced at him. He nodded once and she cooed him, before nudging Hedwig happily and swooping down and coming to rest on his thigh. She looked up at him with curious and expectant eyes. Harry grinned and petted her affectionately. "Can you take a note over to Ron, 'Mione and Ginny?" he asked, glancing over towards the desk, where, mercifully, some parchment, a quill and an ink bottle were positioned. He held out his arm for her to hop onto and got up and moved quickly towards the desk. She cooed him again, and then flew up onto his shoulder, as he sat down, allowing him to write more comfortably.

_Dear Ron, Hermione, Ginny and whoever else ends up reading this note,_

He paused briefly. He had no idea what to say. How in Merlin's name was he meant to tell them he was perfectly fine, but in another universe? He sighed, annoyed. After a few moments, Asa nudged his head and cooed for a third time. Harry understood it as 'just write and be honest'. Harry grinned and shook his head, before dipping the quill in his ink bottle again. He began to write. Very honestly.

_I'm not sure where to start. Both Asa and Sakima have told me you are all very worried, so I guess I should reassure you – I'm perfectly fine. Not exactly safe, but well and don't worry, I'm not being held captive by Death Eaters. Actually, I'm in a parallel universe._

_Everything is upside down. From what I've been able to work out, our timelines divided on Halloween 1981. Here, Voldemort and Peter came together to Godric's Hollow. And I died and my parents lived. Then a couple of years later, in '87, Moody destroyed Voldemort, but you'll never believe this – just now, he returned using the same method he used in my fourth year. Mad, isn't it?_

_I landed outside the Potter Manor, and the front door was answered by both my parents. I managed to faint, embarrassingly, and I woke up in a sort of hospital wing – though it was still in the Manor. Anyway, Dumbledore is alive here, and he worked it out (that I'm in a parallel universe)._

_Hermione, please don't research this to bits, just you, Ron and Ginny grab hold of Asa and she should be right to take you across. She's brought all my stuff, and so she should have no worries bringing you guys._

_I'll explain everything when you get here._

_See you in a bit,_

_Harry_

_P.S. Sirius is alive and married. Scary, I never thought of him settling down. His wife is named Natalia and her maiden name was Nicholls. She and Sirius have two kids, Charlus and Dorea, named after my grandparents and nicknamed Chaz and Dory respectively. And Natalia's pregnant. Sirius said he's going to go through the Black Family Tree and look for disgraced Blacks' names for the kid. Typical._

Satisfied, though a little annoyed his 'note' had somehow become a letter, Harry hurriedly rolled it into a scroll, before sealing it and attaching it to Asa. She trilled peacefully to him, before vanishing in a ball of fire. Harry sat back in his chair and sighed. Now all he had to do was wait. He walked back to the bed and lay down, hoping to doze for a while. He lay there, thinking about waking up to find his friends and girlfriend smiling down at him happily. Slowly, he nodded off.

Less than an hour later, Harry was awoken suddenly but several sharp pecks. He opened his eyes immediately and sat up, looking around eagerly. But neither Ron, Hermione or Ginny were waiting nearby. Instead, Asa was hovering above him, carrying a scroll. Harry reached up and took it from her instantly. He broke the seal and found himself looking at a note written in Hermione's neat script.

_Dear Harry,_

_We're so glad you're alright. We were so worried, and then when Hedwig, Asa, Sakima and your trunk disappeared and you didn't contact us for so long… Well, we're sure you can imagine! At least you're safe – or as safe as this new universe you're in can be._

_We've encountered a little difficulty in travelling to you. Asa took each of us – the people who have read your letter – individually to this portal thing and tried to take us through, but none of us could. It was like trying to push through a brick wall. I did some quick research. From some obscure books I found, it seems only people who are dead in the universe they wish to travel to can go there. That means all of us must be alive in your universe. We're looking for someone to go through for us, but it may take a while. We're very, very sorry, Harry. We need you to send us Asa, so we can try out new people. We're trying to make sure they're people you like._

_Something interesting though. When George had his go, he almost got through. He said he was in a limbo between worlds. He could see this large manor with an odd crest on these iron gates. He said it was a large 'P' with a stag and a lion. Remus told us that George had seen the Potter Manor._

_I expected to be able to get through, though. With the troll thing in our first year. But Ginny and Ron have pointed out that Ron was talking to _you_ when he insulted me. I expect that had something to do with it. I suppose my counterpart never ran to the bathroom and accidentally ran into a mountain troll at the same time._

_Don't worry, Harry, we'll get someone to you very soon._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

_Ginny_

_Ron_

_P.S. Ginny asked Remus about Natalia Nicholls. He said that she was Sirius' girlfriend at the time he went to Azkaban and that she was your mother's best friend when they were at school. She was murdered last year by Voldemort. Apparently she never dated after Sirius, but lived with her brother and his children. Her sister-in-law was murdered by Death Eaters during Voldemort's first rise to power._

Harry dropped the note dispiritedly. He desperately wanted to see his friends. He felt a mad impulse to grab Asa and demand she take him home. But he knew he couldn't do that. The people here needed his help. Voldemort would surely take over and kill his siblings and his parents, Dumbledore, Sirius and Natalia all over again. He couldn't let that happen. Sighing he turned to Asa.

"You need to go back to Ginny, Ron and 'Mione, Asa," Harry sighed. "They need you now. You have to help them find someone who can come over and help me out in this place. I can't do everything all over again alone."

Asa stared at him sadly. Then, quite suddenly, she vanished in a ball of flame once again. Harry groaned, and lay back on his bed.

(--)

Rose yawned, struggling to keep her eyes open. Andy and the twins were already fast asleep on the floor. Emily had left the room, and was wandering around, trying to get that to keep her wide awake. Rose had nothing; she was sitting by the fireplace and desperately struggling against it crackling warmth that seemed to have been invented to lull her to sleep. It had already done the trick with her both her brothers and her youngest sister. She got up and hurried away from the flames, snatching up her copy of _Quidditch Through The Ages_. She snuggled up in an armchair next to a large lamp and began to read.

Time passed, thankfully, rather quickly after that, and she had made it through ten chapters – reading very slowly, due to her heavy eyelids – before any kind of interruption broke through.

"Rosie!" a voice cried from across the room.

Sighing, Rose snapped the book shut and stood up. Was Emmy back? Or had Sophie woken up? She looked around, expecting to see Emily in the doorway, or Sophie huddled before the fire. But she didn't. Instead, when she glanced its way, she noticed something amiss in the flames and she hurried over to them.

"Dory!" she cried in surprise, seeing a girl of fifteen with chestnut shoulder-length, soft and bouncy curls and deep blue eyes, smiling up at her.

"Hey, Rosie," Dory grinned. She yawned. "Are Mum and Dad still at your place?" she asked immediately, without beating round the bush. "It's nearly two in the morning – Chaz is dead to the world. Has been for the past three hours."

"The twins nodded off four hours ago," Rose replied, kneeling down to level herself with her best friend. "Andy finally conked out an hour ago. Emmy's wandering around, trying to keep herself busy and awake."

"But are Mum and Dad still there?" Dory demanded.

"I dunno," Rose said, yawning. "Er – they were. When the Order stuff was finished, they, Mum, Dad and Harry went into the living room. Emmy said Harry had left for his room about an hour ago, but they're still in there, I think."

"Who's Harry?" Dory asked in surprise. "Is he new to the Order?"

"I have no idea who he is or if he's a member," Rose shook her head. "He showed up this afternoon and joined in on the meeting. Nessa – you know Nessa, one of the house-elves?"

Dory paused, and then nodded. "Mmhm," she replied.

"Well, she was in the room during the meeting and she told us he was from an alternate dimension. And that he means a lot to Mum and Dad," Rose frowned. "He wants to duel Voldemort, so we planned to talk to Dad or Dumbledore about it, but after the meeting, your dad dragged mine off, and Dumbledore just left. We're just waiting now for Mum and Dad to come upstairs or something. I dunno."

"Okay, then," Dory said. "I – hey, Emmy!"

Rose turned and saw Emily standing wide-eyed in the door.

"Ems?" she asked, uncertainly. "Ems, are you okay? What's happened?"

"You know how we overheard Mrs Longbottom and Mrs Weasley talking about how George was in St Mungo's when the Order meeting finished?" Emily asked quickly.

"Yes…" Rose said slowly, frowning.

"Well, I was walking around outside and guess what?"

"What?" Dory asked in a sing-song voice.

"I just saw George hovering above the gates!" Emily said eagerly. "He was continuously, looking down at the house and grounds, then back into this sort-of black hole that was next to him. He was trying to get down too and was yelling really loud."

"What was he yelling?" Rose asked, very confused. George Weasley had been injured severely, he had almost died. What was he doing flying above the gates. "Was he injured?"

"No, he looked fine," Emily replied. "Though he had his arm in a sling and his face was covered in this horrible paste on the left-hand side. He was yelling – get this – 'Harry' at the top of his voice and waving frantically. I don't think he saw me though."

"That's weird," Rose said, tilting her head and cocking an eyebrow at her little sister. "Really, really weird."

"Uh-huh," Dory agreed.

"Yeah," Emily said softly. "And I checked at St Mungo's too, using the kitchen fireplace. George Weasley is in intensive care and hasn't left once. He's unconscious and has serious injuries, but nothing that would require any paste on his face or a sling."

"Oh…" Rose paused. She frowned and thought hard. Then she thought of something. "Wait – did you say that George was next to some kind of 'black hole'?"

"Yeah," Emily nodded. "It was like a rip in the world and he'd just stepped out of it," she stopped and stared intensely at Rose. "You don't think –"

"If you think I'm thinking he's the George from Harry's world, then, yeah," Rose said in an awed voice.

"St Mungo's said that George had briefly lapsed into an extremely dangerous state," Emily breathed. "And it was at the exact time George appeared above the gates. That George seemed to just be sucked back into the hole very suddenly, and according to St Mungo's, that's the time George came out of danger."

"Maybe the people in Harry's world are trying to contact him," Dory suggested. "And maybe their counterpart has to be dead for them to get here."

"Probably," Rose paused. "But then, who was Harry in our world?"

(--)

Lord Voldemort or Tom Marvolo Riddle glared angrily around the dark and dingy room, that's only source of light and warmth was the roaring fire next to him. He was seated in a throne-like chair the master bedroom of the Riddle House. The only other furniture was a large bed opposite his chair. He had doubted it would be put to use anytime soon. He needed to think.

It had only been a few hours since he had returned, and already, he had suffered the greatest defeat he could remember. The majority of his Death Eaters captured and his best spy dead, he was in a horrible fix. Not to mention Dumbledore and the whole Order of the Phoenix knew of his return and his weak position, and the Ministry knew, or would know any minute. Spies for the Light would have been sent out immediately and had probably gotten hold of a lot of top-secret information by now and reported it all back to the old muggle-loving fool, Dumbledore. And there was absolutely nothing he could do.

He had been on the brink of killing Dumbledore, when a boy, who looked remarkably like James Potter, had appeared out of nowhere, saved the old man's life and managed to beat him, _him_, Lord Voldemort, the Darkest Wizard in century, in a duel. Voldemort wanted to scream. He wanted to kill that boy. But first he had to find him. And to do that, he needed to know who he was. He was going to get that boy if it was the last thing he did.

"RODOLPHUS!" he bellowed suddenly. "NARCISSA!"

He waited as footsteps raced towards him. A moment later, the door opened and Rodolphus Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy entered the room, bowing low.

"Master," Rodolphus murmured, his head still lowered as he edged in front of Voldemort.

"My lord," Narcissa said next, letting her long, flowing blonde hair to fall over her face. She swept into place beside Lestrange.

"Rise," Voldemort said coldly. Both hastened to obey and soon stood as straight and stiff as a board. Voldemort stared at them icily, and saw both of them shudder with fear. He felt a sickening and grim satisfaction from it. Smiling cruelly, he spoke. "Do you wish revenge on the one who captured your spouses?" he asked silkily.

"Yes, my lord," they both replied in unison.

"It was a boy – I watched him capture Lucius, Cissa, he is very powerful," Voldemort said. "He looked to be no more than sixteen or seventeen. I might say fifteen, but his behaviour indicated that he is older than that."

"A boy, my lord," Rodolphus repeated.

"Yes, Lestrange, a boy!" Voldemort snarled. "He looks like James Potter. I want you to find him, tail him. I want you to learn his identity and his history. This menace will be dead before he knows it. He should know better than to mess with me."

"Yes, my lord," Narcissa responded. "How should we begin to look?"

"He seemed to be new – none of the Order of the Phoenix seemed to know exactly who he was, though no doubt Severus could have told us, has he not been killed by his own reflected Killing Curse!"

"I thought the Unforgivables were impossible to block or deflect, my lord " Narcissa asked with a silky tone that almost rivalled Voldemort's.

"So they are, Narcissa," Voldemort replied, the anger suddenly building in his voice. "But this boy has somehow learnt to do it. I want him captured and tortured. I want to know his tricks. Who knows – perhaps we can turn him. But if not, we can always kill him or put him under the Imperius Curse. I should enjoy controlling that boy. He had the audacity to insult me. He shall not get away with it."

"No, my lord," Rodolphus and Narcissa responded together.

"We will get him for you, my lord," Rodolphus replied. "His identity will not be secret for long. We will soon know who he is."

"See that you do, Rodolphus," Voldemort hissed. "I do not think either of you wish to incur my displease by failing me now?"

Rodolphus and Narcissa shuddered once again.

"I want to know who he is!" Voldemort continued. "And I cannot be so patient for much longer."

* * *

So tell me... did you like it? Review! 

And, sorry to say, it may take a fortnight (around that anyway - I hope) to post the next chapter. School has started again and I'm very busy. But reviews do spur me to write, so the more reviews, the more I write and the sooner the next chapter is up, hint, hint!


	6. Chapter 6

Here it is! Chapter 6! Finally done! I'm soooooooo sorry it took so long again. I was certain I would have it up last week at the latest, but I had to go to Dubbo for a memorial. I spent quite a while there and there was no way I could've brought my computer with me. So very, very sorry.

Disclaimer:** It isn't mine. It's JKR's.**

I hope you like it! 

* * *

Rose trudged downstairs, rubbing her eyes vigorously, and at the same time trying to find her footing on the staircase. She was followed closely by both Emily and Dory (who'd come through the flames completely). Rose shook her head and pinched herself to stop her eyes from sagging much more. She could hear the yawns of her best friend and sister from behind her as they dragged themselves into the Entrance Hall. They stumbled across it, going nowhere in particular, until Rose managed to rouse herself, and stopped the others.

"D'you think they're still in the living room?" she asked tiredly, rubbing her temple slowly. "Or maybe they went to the kitchens or something?"

"W-we'll tr-r-y t-the l-l-li-liv-ving ro-om fir-st," Dory yawned. She rubbed her eyes and fought to control her persistent yawns. "Then if they're not there," she yawned widely again. She shook herself slightly. "We'll look in the other rooms."

The Potter sisters nodded, both squinting fiercely in an attempt to keep their non-cooperative eyes and minds awake. They all yawned simultaneously and then the three girls all turned and headed towards the living room. They had scarcely made it three metres across the Entrance Hall, before…

_Crack!_

Emily jumped so hard she fell into Dory, who had let out a small scream. Rose, startled, jumped away from the sound – just in time – as a pinkish-yellowish ball-like thing fell from the ceiling and crashed to the ground right where she had been standing not two seconds before.

"Eeee!" she squealed in both fright and disgust, as she hurriedly backed away from the thing that was twitching and groaning painfully on the tiled floor. It was truly repulsive. She fell into Dory's arms and the two of them, plus Emily, huddled closely together several metres away from the disgusting thing. Just by looking at it, Rose felt the overwhelming need to empty her stomach, but she held back, with considerable difficulty.

The girls watched in stunned horror as the thing slowly and painstakingly climbed onto its feet and looked up at them. Rose recoiled even further, and she could feel the others doing the same behind her. 'The thing' was an abominably ugly house-elf. The elf stared at them with sunken eyes for little more than a second, before another resounding _crack _echoed through the hall, and what Rose could only assume was another elf plummeted downwards at a tremendous pace, landing with an almighty crash on top of the first elf, and forcing it back onto the floor instantly, into what looked like a highly awkward and painful position. Within a few milliseconds – almost instantly – both elves scrambled and pushed themselves off each other as fast as they possibly could, working desperately to avoid any physical contact, even the slightest of touches and wearing repulsed and horrified faces that could easily rival – and possibly better – the ones the girls wore.

"You!" the first elf said angrily, once it was a safe distance of several metres away from its fellow. It extended a long, bony finger in a creepy manner, with such eerie slowness that it sent a shiver up Rose's spine – and pointed it at the other elf, who glared furiously, as though if it stared hard enough, the first elf would perhaps simply vaporise. The first elf returned the glare with equal venom, before speaking again. "What is you doing here?" it demanded, its voice laced with undeniable and intense hatred. It jabbed the extended finger at the second elf, before slowly turning it around until it was pointing it back at its own chest. "_I_ is here because of my master, though Kreacher wishes the muggle-loving brat was never his master," the elf paused. It drew a deep, rattling breath and glared at the second elf. "You has no business being here. You will be leaving! Oh, my poor, poor mistress. If she saw Kreacher with Dobby, what would she say?"

"Kreacher's mistress is dying a long, long time ago. Kreacher is having a new master now!" the elf named who was apparently named Dobby shouted back, his bright green, tennis-ball-like eyes bulging with anger, whilst his face wore a highly affronted and indignant expression.

Rose stared at them in astonishment. She had never seen two stranger elves. The first – Kreacher – seemed to be very old and had wrinkled skin There seemed to be more than enough of it to cover two Kreachers. He also wore the filthiest rag she had ever laid eyes on tied around his waist in such a way it seemed he was wearing a sarong. She shuddered, feeling a quite grossed-out. Not unwillingly, she tore her eyes away from the hideously ugly elf and turned them towards Dobby, who – to her utter astonishment – was wearing a pair of shorts that were so long, they looked like trousers on him, a woolly jumper and a tea-cosy in place of a beanie. And he had socks everywhere – all over him, even hanging down the back and sides of his tea-cosy. It almost looked like a rather unorthodox legionnaires hat. She felt her eyebrows slowly disappear into her hairline.

"I knows that," Kreacher said resentfully, looking quite unhappy. He wrinkled his nose disdainfully. "But, oh, how Kreacher wishes she wasn't."

"Ahem," Dory coughed suddenly. Both elves looked up in surprise. The one called Dobby rushed forward immediately, a beaming smiled fixed on his face. Rose stared at it intently, unsure whether it was genuine or not, but she only had to look at it for an instant to know that it was. She found herself warming up to Dobby and liking him much more than Kreacher.

"I is Dobby, misses!" he squeaked happily, bowing. "Dobby the house-elf," he hesitated, suddenly looking unsure as he glanced at them almost fearfully. "If you does not mind Dobby asking, misses, but who is you?"

"Kreacher is wondering the same thing," Kreacher muttered, eyeing the three girls calculatingly as he bowed slowly and reluctantly. "Two of the brats looks like Kreacher's muggle-loving master, oh yes. Tis a pity, tis a pity."

"Kreacher will not insult the great –" Dobby began heatedly, but Dory cut him off before he could say anymore.

"I'm Dory Black," she said, interrupting the elves for a second time. Kreacher seemed to grow quite eager at the words. The elf leapt from his bow and jumped forwards. He then inspected Dory thoroughly, walking around her and glaring at every part of her body with narrowed eyes.

"And I'm Rose Potter," Rose added, eyeing Kreacher nervously. She didn't like his behaviour one bit. She was dragged from any further thoughts of the skulking elf when. Dobby's eyes grew wide in excitement and her stared happily at Rose, making the girl feel slightly disturbed by him as well.

"Emily Potter," Emily said, also looking at Dobby strangely, before his stare changed to incorporate her as well as her sister, when she exchanged wide-eyed, slightly nervous looks with her sister.

"Is you being related to Walburga Black?" Kreacher demanded of Dory, finally stopping his stalking and standing directly before her with his arms crossed. "You is looking like her. You is having the traditional Black Family traits, but you does not have black hair."

"Is you related to Harry Potter?" Dobby said, ignoring Kreacher and almost bouncing with glee. He seemed to be on a high as he addressed the two sisters with such fervour they took a step back. "You has black hair and green eyes! Just like Mister Harry Potter!"

"Walburga Black was my grandmother," Dory said in disgust, glaring at Kreacher with repulsion. She despised the Black Family as just as much as her father. "I am the daughter of her son, Sirius," she added proudly.

Kreacher froze in horror and shot her a disgusted look, scurrying backwards as fast as he could. Dory merely grinned and cocked an eyebrow cheekily.

"And Harry Potter was our brother," Rose said, frowning at Dobby. "But he died years ago, so how on earth could you possibly know what he would have looked like?"

"You is saying that Harry Potter is dead!" Dobby's great green eyes filled with tears. "No, no, Dobby knows this is not true. He is speaking to him just this morning! Harry Potter cannot be dead!" the elf fell to the floor and began wailing, creating huge amounts of noise. The other elf and the three girls moved away instinctively, for the noise level was great. Through it, Rose could just barely make out the noise of one or two slamming doors.

"What on earth is going on in here?" a very familiar voice demanded from the other side of the hall. Everyone turned to see Lily entering the hall at a run. She stopped abruptly as soon as she spotted the three girls. "Rosie – Emmy – Dory!" she gasped, partly in surprise and partly because she was panting heavily. "Rosie and Emmy, why aren't you upstairs and in bed asleep? And just what might you be doing here at this unearthly time of night Miss Dorea Black?" she asked sternly, not in an un-McGonagall-like tone, regaining her composure. She surveyed them with a disapproving eye.

"Er – Mum –" Rose hesitated, glancing at her sister and best friend uncertainly. She furrowed her brow uncomfortably and bit her lip quite hard. She let go almost instantly, however, as she tasted blood on the tip of her tongue.

"Aunt Lily, these two house-elves just appeared from nowhere and started arguing and then asking about the Black Family and Harry Potter," Dory said quickly, rescuing Rose.

Lily slowly moved to face the elves, in such a manner that she suddenly reminded the girls of Kreacher, who bowed along with Dobby. Her eyes ran over both of them carefully, while her face slowly turned white. She took a deep, shuddering breath and opened her mouth. She left it like that for a moment, as though reconsidering. But as she began to close it, her eyes became unexpectedly determined and she let out an ear splitting shriek. "JAMES! SIRIUS! NATALIA! COME HERE _NOW_!" she cried, whirling towards the way she'd come.

"What's all this?" a new voice said from behind Rose. She jumped and swung around to face the owner, as did her mother, sister and best friend. The elves were already facing the person. Kreacher sunk into a very low, very resentful bow, an even deeper scowl than the one he had been previously wearing crossed his face. Dobby, on the other hand, did the exact opposite, bowing eagerly and bouncing on the balls of his feet, wearing such a bright smile, Rose felt mildly surprised she didn't need sunglasses.

The boy who had been talking to Dumbledore and her parents earlier – who Andy, Sophie and Nick had identified as Harry – was standing halfway down the stairs, still wearing the same tracksuit as he had been earlier, though it was much filthier than before and distinctly creased. His eyes took it the scene before him, before settling on the two house-elves. His mouth dropped open and a mingled look of horror, exasperation and despair settled on his features. He groaned as a door slammed in the distance.

"How did you get here?" he demanded, letting his shoulders slump, before hurrying down the remainder of the stairs and joining the girls at the bottom. Lily crossed over to him and titled her head in an inquiring manner. He raised his eyebrows, widened his eyes and shook his head just the slightest bit. Then he spun back to face the elves, and accusing expression on his face. "Asa hasn't come back," he stated simply and gave them the same look Lily had given him a moment earlier.

"Kreacher is being made to come because of very ancient magic that is saying that a house-elf must be with his Master if his Master is being transported any place that is separated from Master's original home by magic," Kreacher grumbled, looking most displeased at the whole situation.

"Can I send you back?" Harry asked with a disappointed hope. Rose was surprised he could even achieve such a tone.

"No," Kreacher replied both unwillingly and unhappily. "Not that Kreacher wants to stay. Kreacher wants to be as far away as he can be from his brat of a master," he muttered, though Rose picked up every word he said. She was further away from the elf than Harry, so he must have heard him quite clearly. She looked to the older boy for his reaction.

"Quit muttering, Kreacher," Harry said brusquely, not even bothering to look at the annoying house-elf. Rose felt her eyebrows slowly disappearing as he turned to Dobby instead, with a vaguely amused face. "I'm pretty sure Hermione didn't provide you with first class tickets to come over here, Dobby."

"No, sir!" Dobby squeaked, looking as though he was going to die of happiness. Rose exchanged odd looks with Dory. She had never, ever, ever see such a crazy elf. Dobby seemed oblivious to the look and continued happily. "Dobby is using house-elf magic," he said proudly.

"Oh," Harry paused. He opened his mouth, but before he could utter a single word, he was interrupted by three people storming the room, making an incredible noise.

"DORY!" Natalia screamed angrily, her hair looking slightly wispy from her run and her eyes flashing in fury and indignation. She glared at her daughter, making her squirm and Rose feel almost sympathetic. Almost. She had her own mother – and father – to deal with.

"KREACHER!" Sirius yelped in horror, completely unaware of his daughter or his wife's previous comments. He only had eyes for the horrible elf. Natalia glared at him too.

"ROSIE!" James yelled in shock, just as ignorant to the other cries as Sirius. "EMMY!" he yelled again. Rosie winced. When her father was angry – well, he was _angry_. Not as angry as her mother, but still... Lily got angry a lot. It was worse when James blew his top.

"Kreacher sees his old master," Kreacher said, looking very surprised, but far from happy. "Who is Kreacher's master now?" he asked Harry, glaring at him furiously, his eyes occasionally flitting back to Sirius. "Kreacher does not know who he wants for master, oh no. Kreacher is having a blood traitor or a half-blood. Kreacher hates them both."

"I am," Harry said, looking grumpy. "Unfortunately," he added. "That man," is pointed to Sirius "is not your master. And I thought I told you to stop your muttering!"

Kreacher scowled at Harry and shuffled away from him, slouching furiously. Rose took several steps back as the elf came closer to her. Her attention was suddenly taken from Kreacher when the other elf began talking happily.

"Dobby is meeting the great Lily and James Potter!" Dobby said in excitement, jumping up and down. His eyes lit up with joy. "He is very honoured!"

"Dobby, please stop," Harry said in a tone bordering on desperation. Rose looked at him sharply. He looked almost frantic, but in an odd way – resigned. He seemed sort of accustomed to this type of behaviour, but he clearly was not happy with it. Rose frowned. He was a very odd boy.

"Dobby is honoured to obey Mister Harry –"

"DOBBY!" Harry yelled. He took a deep breath and sent the elf a pleading look. "Please," he said a little quieter. The hall remained silent for several seconds that seemed like years to Rose.

"Intruder wards!" James yelled out of the blue, his face suddenly fierce and hard. His eyes shone with a steely determination.

"James!" Lily screamed in a terrified voice, her legs twitching frantically as though she would like nothing better than to run as fast as she could and take the girls and Harry with her. "You didn't tell anyone to come over, did you?" she asked, with the air of someone ensuring that she was not incorrect. Rose was suddenly reminded of the bossy girl who had been Head in the previous school year. Hermione Granger. She had been such a perfectionist and rubbed everyone up the wrong way. Rose had not despised the plain girl, but they had not been friends.

"How do you know about the wards?" Harry asked, bringing Rose back out of her memories. He had approached her parents and was looking at them with a healthy curiosity. Rose couldn't help think that were it not for the reckless side he had shown earlier, Hermione might have been willing to be friends with him. She was such a picky young woman.

James lifted his right hand were a gold ring rested on his middle finger. It seemed very unspectacular, until it suddenly flashed blue and seemed to squeeze James' finger firmly.

Now feeling distinctly frightened, Rose backed away with Dory and Emily. Dobby's eyes were suddenly wide and fearful; whilst Kreacher looked excited and the most pleased he had all night.

"You girls," James said loudly, as the pace at which the ring was flashing blue increased. "GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" he yelled. The ring was now flashing so fast Rose was having difficulty seeing the pauses between each time it glowed that eerie blue colour.

The Potter sisters began moving quickly towards the nearest entrance to the secret system, but Dory grabbed their robes before they could go far.

"Do you want to miss all the action?" she hissed, as the four adults plus Harry approached the door with their wands drawn. "Because I don't," she gestured to the closest dark corner and pulled out her wand.

She slowly led them to the corner and didn't let go of them until all three were safely concealed in the shadows. Rose and Emily carefully pulled out their own wands and pointed them directly and the door. Rose tried to remember the incantation to stun people. She had a clear memory of borrowing some of Lavender Brown's make-up for Valentine's Day and seeing Hermione practicing the spell in the dorm on her cat. She just couldn't remember the word. Stubbedy? Stupidy? She bit her lip. They weren't the incantation. But at least she remembered '_Expelliarmus_'and '_Petrificus Totalus_'.

She looked towards the door, were her parents, Dory's parents and Harry were standing. The adults seemed apprehensive and indecisive, where as Harry was the image of courage. He waited for a few moments to see if any of the adults were going to make the first move, but when they didn't even twitch, he edged around them and thrust the door open, keeping his wand facing outwards

"Hello, Harry," a vague voice said mildly, despite the fact Harry had his wand stuck it there face.

"Oh, Merlin," Harry replied in a stunned voice. His wand slipped from his suddenly lose grasp and clattered to the floor. This seemed to shake him out of his shocked state. "Hi," he said to the person in the doorway, quickly bending to pick his wand up again. "You'd better come in," he added and then he stepped back and ushered a thin, blonde girl with large eyes through the door.

"This place is nice," she said abruptly, earning some strange looks from the adults. She ignored them – instead she looked at Harry questioningly. "How are you, then?" she asked absently.

"You only saw me this morning," Harry replied, both sounding and looking as if she had taken him completely by surprise. She had taken Rose unawares as well and Rose gave the strange girl a long calculating stare. She thought of this girl as she had of Harry – she was very odd.

"That was before the battle," the girl said calmly, as if what she was saying were the most normal thing in the world. "I wasn't sure whether you'd survived. You completely disappeared. Ginny was having kittens and so were both Mrs Weasley and Hermione. I thought you'd died, but now that I think about it, it is amazing obvious that you had been sent to an alternate universe"

"It is?" Harry asked, wearing what looked to be a well-used bemused expression. Rose had the distinct impression he'd worn it before when talking to this particular girl.

"Oh yes," the girl said mildly, oblivious to the odd and disapproving looks she was receiving. "Father was researching them a few years ago, but the Ministry gave him a hard time about it and forced him to stop. I think it was obvious they were secretly getting rid of unwanted people by sending them to alternate planes of reality and Daddy's research would have uncovered their secret. So now I think it was them that sent you."

"Do you?"

"Yes," the girl smiled vaguely, looking – was it even possible? – distantly pleased with herself.

After a healthy silence, and when it was clear the girl had nothing further to say – the four adults permitted themselves to exchange uncertain and unnerved looks. As if by some unspoken agreement, Lily stepped forward to serve as their unofficial spokeswoman.

"I'm Lily Potter, dear," she said kindly and using a warm and friendly tone. She smiled at the girl and extended her hand.

"Oh, I know who you are," the girl said, smiling even more. She gazed at Harry, and then back at Lily. "You're –"

"Luna!" Harry interrupted her warningly, shooting the three girls careful looks. Rose froze. _He knew they were there! Now what?_ She looked around frantically, but neither Emmy nor Dory seemed to have noticed the look. Rose shook her head, trying to clear it. Had she been imagining things? She put it out of her mind and watched as Harry gripped the strange girl's arm tightly and leant forward to whisper in her ear. After a few seconds she smiled.

"Oh," she said, looking happily at him. She turned back to Lily. "I've never met you, but I've seen many pictures and I know you by repute."

"How can you have never met her?" Dory asked suddenly. "She's the Hogwarts Potions Mistress, and aren't you around Hogwarts age?"

"Dorea Black!" Natalia exclaimed, her eyes widening in anger at the sight of her daughter. "What are you doing still here? Why didn't you run when your Uncle James told you to?"

"There wasn't any danger," Dory replied meekly. "We're fine."

"Rosie and Emmy are there too?" Lily demanded, looking furious and squinting into the corner where the three girls had concealed themselves. She didn't seem to be able to see anything, however, and Rose and her sister stepped out of the shadows unwillingly.

"And if it had been Death Eaters?" Natalia shrieked. Rose recognised the unmistakable signs of one of the rants Natalia was famous for. "What would you have done then?"

"We could have stunned them!" Dory protested weakly, her own voice betraying that she knew it was no good. "And we could have… disarmed them too," she added with virtually no conviction. It struck Rose how stupid it was to stay in the corner. There was no way a Death Eater would miss three young girls hiding in a corner and simple defence spells would be laughable to them. She, Emily and Dory would have been sitting ducks.

"Sorry," she muttered. Her mother raised her eyebrows in surprise, but she nodded, a small resigned smile settling on her face. She gave the three girls exasperated looks before speaking less than a second before Natalia opened her mouth to continue her rant.

"Next time you are told to run and hide, _run and hide_," Lily told them firmly. "There are no jokes with this and no twelve-year-olds or fifteen-year-olds are capable of duelling any Death Eater. Do not think it is cowardly to run. Your life is worth more than your pride, remember."

"Yes, Mum," Rose replied quickly, glancing at the others, who both look a little red-faced and uncomfortable.

"Yes, Aunt Lily," Dory added in a low and ashamed voice, nodding jerkily to show she understood. Rose knew better. Most of it was an act, though she could tell that Dory was at least partly genuine. She took after her father in that way. It took a lot to get Dory Black to be repentant.

"Okay, Mum," Emily said after a brief pause.

Lily smiled again, though a little sadly. "Your dad and I need to talk to you in the morning," she said seriously, looking at Rose and Emily. "It is very important, no jokes."

"Sure," Rose agreed.

"We should come too," Sirius said suddenly. "Dory and Chaz need to know as well, so we may as well tell them together," he grinned half-heartedly.

"Are you going to tell them about me, or about what happened tonight?" Harry asked from across the room, where he had been conversing with the girl named Luna in whispers.

"They will know both in the end," James said firmly. "It does not matter what we do and do not tell them tomorrow morning."

"Well –" Natalia began, completely distracted from her rant, before she was interrupted.

"KREACHER!" Harry yelled suddenly. Everyone jumped and began looking around frantically for the house-elf, which seemed to have completely vanished. Rose followed Harry's gaze, which lead right to Sirius. With a small _pop_ Kreacher materialised right beside him, in a position that was not dissimilar to an animal about to pounce on its prey.

Sirius yelped and jumped away from the filthy elf in shock. "_What were you doing, you stupid elf_?" he cried as soon as he had moved a safe distance away.

"Leave him alone, Kreacher," Harry said quietly. "Don't bother him," Harry turned back to Sirius. "He hasn't seen you in a while. I'm pretty sure he was trying to attack you for some not-so-light reason."

"Humph!" Sirius flounced like a spoilt girl. Rose and Harry snorted at exactly the same moment. For the first time, Rose felt his intense stare on her. He had never looked at her individually. His eyes seemed to miss nothing as they gazed into her own. She squirmed uncomfortably. Somehow, she just didn't feel right.

"Ah," James coughed, frowning at Harry. "I think it's time you girls went to bed. Sirius, Natalia, Dory – you can use the fire there," the Blacks nodded and started to move over to the grate. "And Rosie, are all the others in bed and asleep?" James asked his eldest daughter.

"They're asleep," Rose answered. "But not in bed."

"They fell asleep in the playroom," Emmy said unhelpfully. "Sophie and Nick fell asleep on cushions in front of the fire and Andy is on the big couch."

"Ems," Rose moaned.

"Your mum can levitate them for you," James said, frowning. "I'll say goodnight here. There's something I need to do…" he trailed off.

"Sure, Dad," Rose said immediately, kissing him and running up the stairs without a moments hesitation. It was obvious he intended to speak to Harry and his friend alone. Emily didn't seem to cotton on as quickly, but she followed suit and a minute later the two of them were walking along the third floor, behind their mother. She had already levitated the twins and Andy to their beds – they slept at the other end of the floor, next to the playroom. The three walked in complete silence, because both girls were almost too tired to talk. Their exhaustion level was finally overtaking them and by now Emily was staggering and Rose was forcing her feet to move, while at the same time holding her little sister. She was never going to stay up this late again. She knew she was going to sleep in this morning and miss a lot of the following day – though her mother had said she wanted to speak to them in the morning. Did that mean she was going to wake them up?

"Goodnight, girls," Lily said, stopping outside a mahogany door. She turned around and hugged Rose, then Emily. "Sweet dreams," she smiled.

"G'night, Mum," Rose yawned in response. Emily nodded wearily, and pushed the door open, making a noisy creak. Rose was too tired to respond, she merely stepped through it after her little sister as their mother headed back down the hall. The small room the two sisters had entered had three other doors and a mahogany table in the centre. It was illuminated by a candle between each door and a single one in the middle of the table. The door to their left had a white, china nameplate reading _Emily's room_, and had many irises painted around the words. The door opposite the one through which Rose had come had a china plate with a single lavender painted on it in the middle. The lavender door led to the girls' shared bathroom and the only remaining door had an identical plate to Emily's, but instead it read _Rose's room_ and had tiny roses in place of irises.

"Night, Rosie," Emily's voice drew Rose out of her daze. She turned to see her sister opening her bedroom door. The younger girl was rubbing her eyes tiredly and looking at her elder sister expectantly.

"Oh," Rose acknowledged. "Night, Ems."

(--)

Harry gazed at Luna as Sirius, Natalia, the three girls and Lily left the room. He paid them absolutely no attention whatsoever. He was solely focused on figuring out the reason that Luna had been able to travel here, when not a single one of the others could. As far as he knew, Luna had never been in danger of her life. Except after she had met him, and he had thrown her into danger.

"We've never been here, have we?" Luna interrupted his thoughts, as she so often did, with a calm and mildly interested expression settled upon her face. She was staring around her as though she were in a museum, completely missing (or ignoring, but Harry had the distinct impression that it was the former) the nervous looks she was getting from a retreating Lily and half-shocked James. "No, I've never seen it, so I suppose that would mean you haven't either?" she paused, cocking her head so suddenly and abruptly that it instantly told Harry she had just thought of something. "Was it destroyed in the war, I wonder?" she asked thoughtfully. "Remus never mentioned it and I'm sure he would have been here many times."

"Yes, Remus has been here often," James spoke up unexpectedly. Luna turned to look at him, which seemed to make him highly uncomfortable. He shifted nervously. "You know, during school for holidays, dinner, Ord – er, he was here earlier…" James trailed off looking horrified he had almost let slip the top secret Order's name. Harry grinned at him reassuringly.

"Don't worry," he said, smiling. In his world Luna had been right at the very top of the Order. Worrying about betraying it by mentioning its name to her would have been considered absolutely crazy. "She's a member in my world."

"Oh – er – right," James nodded uncomfortably. He paused, appearing to be gathering himself. He stayed like this for at least two minutes, obviously gaining momentum or courage. Which of these, Harry couldn't tell. Finally, James burst. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded furiously.

"I'm dead here, aren't I, Harry?" Luna asked dreamily. Harry watched James giving her an odd look, and when she caught sight of it she explained. "According to 'Mi, only people who are dead in the universe they wish to travel to can actually go there. Harry's dead, and he's here. None of the others could get through, except for George who was in a crazy midway world where he could see both, so I can only assume I'm dead."

"George?" James asked, raising his eyebrows questioningly. Harry started suddenly. It was an expression he himself often wore. James retained the look as he continued. "George Weasley? He's in St Mungo's!"

"That would explain how our George almost made it," Luna smiled. "Ah, well. It seems I am the only member of the Order who can come here. I'd like to meet up with my father, you know," she added as an afterthought.

Harry frowned. _Was Mr Lovegood alive?_ He voiced his thoughts. "Maybe your father is dead here and your mother is alive or something, Lu," he suggested, watching his friend uncomfortably. _Should I have said that? Maybe I should've left it alone. Damn, why can't I keep my mouth shut?_

As soon as the words left his mouth, Luna's face fell and she gazed into space with a saddened expression. But much to Harry surprise, she quickly brightened and looked back to the two men. "My name is Luna Lovegood. My father is Thaddeus Lovegood and my mother was Selena Lovegood (A/N I made some random guesses with the names. They seem sort of likely to me). Do you know them?" she asked James eagerly.

James' jaw dropped. "_Selena and Thaddeus Lovegood_?" he choked after finally regaining at least partial control over his jaw and vocal chords. "But – but," he staggered backwards and fell onto the stairs. Harry, feeling this was not his discussion, stepped back. James didn't seem to notice, he was too busy staring at Luna in shock. "The Lovegoods died – what is it? Eight years ago now."

"Was I nine?" Luna asked mildly. Harry felt a bell ring distantly in his mind. That age seemed to have significance. Luna had told him about something that happened when she was nine. What was it again? He couldn't believe he'd forgotten. He had the unsettling feeling it was very important to Luna.

"Y-yes," James' shocked stutter broke through Harry's intense self-scolding and frantic search, bringing him back to earth. "N-nine," James continued, staring at Luna like she was a ghost. "Y-you were d-definitely n-nine, yes," James began to breathe very slowly as if trying to calm himself.

"So that would mean Mother and I died in the experiment," Luna observed mildly, though her eyes didn't tell the same story. They were blazing. "What happened to Daddy, Mr Potter?" she inquired, in the same voice, but her eyes did not calm. If anything they grew even more ferocious.

The experiment! Harry struggled not to hit himself. He felt like screaming. It was so blaringly obvious! Luna had watched her mother killed in an experiment when she was nine! Harry paused, struck with a sudden thought. "Luna, last time you weren't killed. Why would this world be different?"

"Oh, I don't know," Luna replied vaguely. She turned to James. "Mr Potter?" she asked meaningfully, giving him a dotty smile, which seemed to put him off considerably and he edged away from her ever so subtly. Harry knew that Luna would have picked up on it, though. The previous year had been so dangerous. The way the situation had deteriorated so quickly after Dumbledore died was more devastating than Harry could have possibly imagined. Death Eaters had sneaked into every nook and cranny and he, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna had learned the hard way to be very observant.

Harry had become lost in his thoughts again, and was only found again by the dreaded expression 'Death Eaters'. He jumped and stared and James in shock and horror. How could he have missed what was being said? Thankfully, James misinterpreted his face and nodded sympathetically.

"Yes, horrible," James sighed. "Thaddeus kidnapped, tortured and killed. I imagine this must be hard for you to hear, Miss Lovegood? Luna?" he frowned suddenly, looking a little uncertain.

"Luna is fine, Mr Potter," Luna said instantly. "I'm only just turned seventeen. And no, of course not. I've lost many a friend to Voldemort and his slaves. And I'm not surprised – if Daddy died, and Voldemort didn't disappear for several more years than he did with us – then it would be the logical conclusion they murdered him, and probably kidnapped and/or tortured him as well at some point."

James' mouth fell open. He seemed to stutter to himself as he tried in vain to regain control. For a moment Harry was sure James was going to make a comment on his and Luna's world, but he didn't. "Er – yes, well – ah, after the tragedy with poor Thaddeus, little Luna never left Selena's side. Right next to her 24/7, gripping her robes like it was a lifeline. Selena didn't mind, she seemed almost normal – or as normal as Selena could be – keeping her experiments going all the time and she ran the Quibbler as well. Quite an achievement," James opened his mouth to continue, but stopped and shook his head, looking stuck. Harry felt sympathy to the alternate version of his father and had the overwhelming need to comfort him and reassure him, but he found he couldn't. He was stuck.

For once Luna was silent. She seemed hugely upset. After a few moments Harry saw she had realised neither he nor James were going to say anything, and she opened her mouth. "So I was holding onto Mum when the experiment went wrong," she said. It wasn't a question, but it looked for confirmation. It got it. James nodded, still clearly incapable of speech.

"Luna…" Harry trailed off, unsure of what he should say. He had talked to people when they lost someone, heck he'd lost Sirius. But this was immensely different to any situation he had ever been in before. Luna had just discovered that she and her entire family had been killed years ago in another universe. Normally it wouldn't seem to be such a big thing, because she was in her own universe and had her father. But now she was here and had to deal with the loss. He stared at his friend hollowly as she gathered herself to speak again.

"Well, I can't say I expected much different, though I had hoped Daddy was alive," she said in a strangely confident voice. It didn't sound right on Luna, not to mention the fact it was at a similar pitch to Hermione's 'nervous voice' as he and Ron had dubbed it. She had used it in the Hogs' Head in their fifth year and at the first DA meeting.

"I'm sorry, Luna," James said quietly. Both Harry and Luna turned to him, and saw that he had stood up again and had moved quite a bit closer to them without them noticing. Harry watched James' face as many emotions rushed across it, betraying an internal battle. Harry didn't need to use his Legilimency to know this. But after James was silent for nearly two minutes, he decided to slip in.

Harry choked and went bright red. His cheeks were flushing crimson as he hurriedly stepped back and squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could, shaking his head firmly at the same time. _He did not just think that. He did not just think that. No way._ Harry repeated this over and over again in his mind, trying to shake James' thought from his mind.

"Harry?" Luna asked, far away. Realising he had lost himself _again_, he quickly turned to look at her. She was looking at him in concern, which only made Harry more nervous. He stepped back.

"What's up?" James asked, looking at him oddly. Harry groaned, and to his dismay, he found he had groaned aloud. Luna, who had become unused to Harry making obvious emotional giveaways, gave him an even more concerned look. Harry decided just to speak. Who cares if James learned Harry had read his mind? He couldn't keep on thinking that… eugh!

"We're not," Harry muttered, dropping his eyes. He didn't notice the confused look both James and Luna gave him, but he could tell what he had said was not sufficient enough to get his meaning across. "We're really good friends, not…" he trailed off and glanced up at James, who was wearing a steadily growing look of fury. Harry bit his lip. This situation was uncomfortable, to say the least. "Not us," he said after a pause. "We are not… you know. No way. Not a chance. It just wouldn't be _right_, I mean."

"You mean you just pulled a little Legilimency," James growled.

"Well, you were quiet for quite a while," Luna intervened, in her normal abnormal way. "Harry's not _that _patient, you know. He is only seventeen – oops," she grinned faintly. "Eighteen, sorry. Still a teenager. No teenager can withhold their curiosity for long and Harry happens to be cursed with a much higher level of curiosity than anyone else who I've ever met."

Harry looked at her gratefully as James' expression softened a little. Unfortunately it retained a fair amount of anger and annoyance. "But you still entered my mind without permission!" James protested. "And that's illegal too, you know," he added, threateningly.

Harry smirked. "Are you going to report me?" he asked his father innocently.

James flushed a little and began to stammer incoherently. Harry and Luna exchanged amused looks. Oh, how Harry wished Colin Creevey were here now. Maybe his infernal camera could be put to use.

"Of course not," James snapped eventually. He folded his arms across his chest arrogantly and glared mockingly at Harry and Luna. "But we don't have time to make any arrangements for Luna tonight. We'll get both of you set up properly tomorrow…"

"Yes, of course. You don't have a decent room, do you, Harry?"

Harry looked up to the top of the stairs were Lily was smiling.

"No, its fine," he replied, thinking of his room at the Dursleys and Ron's room. His room here was at least twice the size of the two of them combined. "Really," he added at both Lily's doubtful and wary face, and James' horrified expression. It struck Harry how similar they seemed to the teenagers in the Pensieve.

"You are definitely getting bigger rooms tomorrow," James declared, ignoring Lily's disapproving look. "No buts, that room is titsy. We've got plenty of room. No worries."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, Luna it is a bit late to set you up – I mean, the rooms are prepared, but everybody is tired," she said, making a slightly apologetic face, but Harry didn't miss the mischievous look that was dancing in her eyes. She winked discreetly at James. Luna seemed to miss it, but Harry definitely saw it and was certain James had caught it as well. "I hope you two won't mind sharing tonight – I trust you can conjure some sleeping necessities," she added expectantly. When they both nodded (Harry warily), she smiled sweetly, which only served to make Harry all the more suspicious. He was beginning to get a very bad feeling about all of this. "Harry can show you upstairs. I am dreadfully sorry, but I have this horrific habit of developing the most painful migraines if I don't get enough sleep," she made the apologetic face again, though it seemed a little fake. "Goodnight," she smiled sweetly again, but this time it seemed to have a bit more of a cheeky element. She quickly climbed back up the couple of steps she had come down earlier during their conversation. "James?" she called over her shoulder, as she disappeared round a corner.

"Er – yeah," James grinned cheekily as well. "Night!" and he too vanished upstairs rather hurriedly.

Harry turned to Luna and clucked his tongue, trying to ignore their odd behaviour. "Well…" he began, smiling at her, pleased to have a true friend here with him in this strange place.

Luna cut him off. "What on earth was your father thinking that made you so embarrassed?" she demanded, in a very Ginny-like tone. So many years of being her best friend couldn't have left Luna completely uninfluenced by the headstrong Ginevra Weasley.

Harry froze. _Your father_. He had heard those words before, but never like that. Never discussing an encounter with _his father_ moments after he had left the room. Not that he could remember, anyway. Oh, how he wished he could've heard it so much more. He should've heard it, but Voldemort's interference had determined that it could never come to be. But now… now he had a father. Now he had _parents_, something he could never remember having before. It seemed almost magical, impossible. He was dreaming and floating on a cloud. It was such an amazing feeling of utter elation. It stung Harry to know that he should've felt it so much more in his life, but, as with everything else in his life, Voldemort had put an end to that. But now Harry had put an end to Voldemort.

"Harry?" Luna's voice called to him from far away. He landed with a crash and scowled heavily at her.

"What?" he asked grumpily, trudging towards the staircase. He liked thinking. Luna knew that, but she had still interrupted him. He kept his back to her as she hastened to follow him upstairs.

"I asked you what your dad could have possibly been thinking that would have managed to get you so hot and bothered," she repeated calmly. Harry found himself resenting the fact that she was too used to his grumpy habits to pay them any heed. He took it as a personal insult. People normally quaked when he showed even the slightest signs of annoyance. Even Ron and Neville became nervous. Not Luna, Ginny or Hermione, though. They kept their cool. Much to Harry displeasure. He could make the Minister for Magic himself as well as the whole of the Ministry fear him, but not three teenagers. Nor Mrs Weasley for that matter, but she was completely different.

Finally Luna's question hit him. He felt his cheeks burn all over again as his growing foul mood melted away rapidly. "I – er, well…" he coughed. Oh, Merlin. What was he supposed to say to this? _Rush it and hope she doesn't hear it_, Ron's voice told him firmly. Harry blushed furiously, took a deep breath in preparation for the embarrassing plunge.

"Hethoughtyouandmeweredatingandthatwewouldwanttosleepinthesameroomnotasfriendsandallthat," he coughed, mortified, and started to jog towards his room. _Maybe Luna won't catch up. Maybe she didn't hear that. Maybe she won't hear this_. "Youknowallthosecoulple-ishkindofthings," he choked over his words and looked over at Luna desperately hoping she hadn't caught what he'd said.

"Oh, I see," Luna smiled. Harry's heart sank as he heard her repeat what he'd said, only it was a little bit more coherent. "He thought we were together and would want to share a room and a b–"

"Luna Lovegood!" Harry yelled stopping in his tracks, a few metres from his bedroom door.

She stopped too. "Yes?" she inquired innocently.

Harry moaned weakly and shook his head. _This was going to be a long, long night_, he thought, leading her into their bedroom for the night. As he shut the door, he spotted to mischievous faces wearing gigantic grins spying on them from just around the nearby corner.

_Evil people_, he thought thunderously. _Why did I get the devious parents?_

(--)

"So he has black, messy hair, he looks to be in his mid teens, but is probably older and he isn't particularly tall," Narcissa wrote on a scroll of parchment. She looked up at Rodolphus. "Anything else?" she asked calmly.

"Now you've finished stating the obvious," Rodolphus said snidely, giving her one of his most furious glares. "From the Pensieve memory, I'd say he has uncommon eyes," Rodolphus frowned. He leant over the parchment and tapped it impatiently with his index finger. "I couldn't make out the exact colour, but they were striking. Very striking," he ran a hand through his hair. "Hmmm…" he murmured.

"Uncommon, striking eyes," Narcissa wrote in her elegant script. "Behaviour?" she asked swiftly.

"Bit of a larrikin," Rodolphus responded instantly, now tracing the words. "And reckless. Very Gryffindor-ish."

Narcissa didn't begin writing immediately. Instead she paused to speak to her brother-in-law. "Obviously Gryffindor and reckless," she said with infuriating calmness and dignity. "But are you sure he's a larrikin. He seemed a bit like one in the battle itself…"

"So he's evidently an even bigger one outside of warfare," Rodolphus interrupted. "Write that down, my dear," he said venomously.

Narcissa glared at him. "Larrikin, Gryffindor behaviour, reckless," she muttered irately as she wrote. She scowled as she looked up. "Now what? Is there anything else we should add?"

"He is good at duelling and Defence Against the Dark Arts," Rodolphus began arrogantly, before Narcissa interrupted him.

"Now look who's stating the obvious," she sneered.

"Silence, Narcissa," Rodolphus ordered impatiently. "He would have achieved awards at Hogwarts for these subjects, I don't doubt. So we must check the record books. Could Draco sneak into the Hogwarts library for you?"

"He has graduated!" Narcissa exclaimed, looking shocked and indignant. "You are his uncle! You should know that!"

"I am one of the Dark Lord's most trusted Death Eaters," Rodolphus brushed aside her anger. "I cannot be expected to keep track of something as trivial as Draco's graduation."

"Trivial," Narcissa muttered furiously under her breath. "You call your only nephew's graduation _trivial_."

"Yes, I do," he said testily. "We need to get at some Hogwarts records."

"I don't think this Potter look-a-like would have won any defence awards," Narcissa said moodily. "Draco would have informed either myself or Lucius of him and we would have, in turn, notified the Dark Lord, who would have sent an envoy to approach this boy and tried to turn him over to the noble side. And you know Draco has reported several powerful students."

"He may have hidden his talents," Rodolphus replied even more testily.

"That may be so, but Draco advises me on any member of an important family arriving at Hogwarts or anyone who looks similar, but has a different surname, or anything suspicious. A boy who bears a striking resemblance to the head of the Potter house would not go unheeded. I would of known of him the instant he sat on the Sorting Stool," Narcissa said smugly.

"So you are saying he did not attend Hogwarts," Rodolphus said slowly. "And we do not know his name. How do we track him?"

"I do not know," Narcissa said solemnly. "Perhaps we could tail him…"

"No doubt he will be residing somewhere unplottable," Rodolphus said disparagingly. "We shall just have to wander around and ask a few choice questions."

"Polyjuice Potion!" Narcissa exclaimed.

"Whose hair would we use?" Rodolphus asked her doubtfully.

"Oh, I don't know," Narcissa said breezily. "Anyone. We could just approach him – if we ever see him – and ask him his name…"

"I sincerely doubt that would work," Rodolphus said. "This needs some careful and attentive planning. I believe Polyjuice is the best option at this point in time, but we need to be more tactical when dealing with him. No waltzing up to him and start asking suspicious questions."

"Should we try and turn him?"

"No, not yet," he replied. "Like I said. This needs planning."

The two of them settled down at the table and began to plan their plan of attack with the utmost care and attention to detail. This was an important assignment and they could not let the Dark Lord down.

(--)

"Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!" Lily sang as she opened the curtains. "It's a bea-_u_-tiful day, sweetheart!" she told a very sleepy Sophie happily, gazing out over the grounds. Suddenly she turned around and moved back to Sophie's bed. She settled herself of the purple and gold quilt and stared straight into the little girl's eyes. "Daddy and I need to have a serious talk with you and the others this morning," she said firmly.

Sophie felt the apprehensive feeling she always got when she expected to be told off spread through her body. She shivered. "Is it about falling asleep in the playroom last night, Mum?" she asked nervously.

"No, no!" Lily laughed. "I do like it better when you go to sleep in your bed, but it doesn't matter. I could easily levitate you. And magic does make it easy to put you in your pjs."

"Oh," Sophie flushed slightly. "What's it about, then?" she asked uncertainly, looking at her smiling mother almost disbelievingly. Why would her mum be so happy about a serious talk?

"Harry," Lily said brusquely, standing up and brushing down her robes. "Get dressed, darling, and come down to the living room. Uncle Sirius, Aunt Natalia, Chaz and Dory will be there soon."

"Is it about him coming from an alternate universe?" Sophie asked, not thinking about what she was saying.

CRASH!

Lily tripped in shock and tumbled into Sophie's bedside table, which tittered and fell, breaking all her ornaments. "How – what – who – I –" Lily stuttered drawing her wand shakily and repairing the table and contents. Finally she turned back to Sophie. "How do you know that? Who told you?"

"I – er…" Sophie paused. Should she dob on Nessa? No, she shouldn't, but it wouldn't do any harm, would it? "Promise you won't get angry at them? Please, Mummy? Promise me?"

"We'll see," Lily said, folding her arms across her chest. "If it was Uncle Sirius, so help me…"

"It wasn't Uncle Sirius!" Sophie shouted. "It wasn't a human who told me – it was one of the –"

"Portraits?" Lily interrupted. "I suppose it's natural to them to chin wag with anyone who happens to come by, but really. They do need to keep their mouths shut sometimes. I'll get Daddy to have a word with them…"

"It wasn't one of the portraits!" Sophie cried. "It was a house-elf. She let it slip by accident, I swear!" she looked beseechingly up at her mother with her I'm-an-innocent-little-puppy-dog eyes.

"Oh, for goodness sake," Lily said. "I expect the others all know about it too, don't they?"

Sophie nodded. "So there's no point in having a 'serious talk', now. Is there, Mummy?"

"No need?" Lily asked incredulously. "Of course there's a need! You don't know who his counterpart in this world was, do you?"

"Was?"

"Your counterpart has to be dead, apparently, to travel to their universe," Lily explained impatiently. "You never met his counterpart, but he would have been an important figure in your life. Now get dressed and come downstairs. I need to wake your siblings," with that Lily marched out of the bedroom, but not before waving her wand and causing clothing to appear at the foot of the bed.

Sophie hurriedly pulled on the boardies and T-shirt, and moments later she was in the living room waiting for the rest of the family. She didn't have long to wait, for a few seconds later, Nick came in wearing his favourite cargos. He was fingering the pockets nervously.

"What d'you reckon?" he asked eventually.

Sophie looked at him. "What d'you mean by that?" she replied.

"Who d'you think this Harry bloke is?"

"That's what we're here to find out," Sophie answered, feeling ready to rev him up. Sure enough, Nick's face contorted and he punched the air in front of her. She didn't even flinch and he flopped into the chair opposite her.

"I hate you," he said. "You're such a – a –"

"Lovely, perfect sister?" Sophie suggested sweetly.

"No!" he glared at her. "A baby and a brat!"

Sophie felt herself begin to boil over, but just then James stepped into the room followed by Andy. Andy was busy ruffling his hair and admiring his bright red T-shirt with a golden lion.

"Like the shirt?" he asked, catching sight of Sophie watching him.

"It's okay," she replied. "But I think you'd look way better in pink," she added cheekily.

"You think Graciela would like me in pink?" he asked, thoughtfully. "She's quite pretty, and I reckon she's got a crush on me. I'll ask her to the next Hogsmeade weekend."

"Graciela?" Sophie asked.

"Graciela Quirke," Andy replied. "Her sister, Orla, is in Ravenclaw. Graciela is in Gryffindor with me. I can't think why I haven't I asked her out sooner…"

"Andrew Sirius Potter!" Lily exclaimed from the doorway. Rosie and Emily were standing nervously behind her. "Don't tell me you're turning into an outrageous flirt like your father!"

"Of course he is!" James retorted. "He's fourteen, isn't he?"

"So?"

"So he can play around a bit at school," James said matter-of-factly. "He's not eleven any more is he?"

"Exactly!" Lily shouted. "He's not eleven – he's fourteen and he needs to start acting more responsibly!"

"Who does?"

Sophie whipped around. Uncle Sirius and his family were standing in front of the fireplace. Uncle Sirius was wearing a loopy grin and was winking like crazy at her father. Chaz was covered in soot and to say Aunt Natalia looked disgruntled would be an understatement. Only Dory seemed perfectly calm and tidy.

"Uncle Sirius!" she called and jumped into his arms. "Why are you here?" she asked him, when she had finally pulled back from the hug.

"Your mum's having a serious talk with you and Chaz and Dory should probably join in too," Sirius explained grinning like a madman. Sophie was about to ask what was up with him, when another voice called out across the room, voicing her exact thoughts.

"What in the world is making you grin like a Cheshire cat, Sirius?"

It was Harry. Next to him stood a strange girl with long blonde hair and wide eyes. She was inspecting the room and seemed to miss nothing, just like Harry. Sophie watched them step into the room uncertainly. They both looked incredibly nervous, and kept looking curiously at her and the others, though Harry's gaze seemed more personal. The odd girl seemed merely interested, whilst Harry seemed almost… desperate and longing.

"Oh, good, you're here," Lily smiled. "Everyone sit down, sit down," she ushered them all into the chairs. When they were all seated, she began to talk. "I believe my children already know what we're here to talk about, but for your benefit, Chaz and possibly Dory's – I think Emmy and Rosie may have filled you in – Harry and Luna are from an alternate universe."

Chaz's jaw dropped. "No way," he said.

"Way," Harry replied. "I don't know how it happened, but I was talking to my girlfriend, and suddenly my surroundings vanished and I landed in front of the manor."

"You have a girlfriend?" James asked eagerly. "Who?"

"Later," Harry said, brushing his question aside. "I sent Asa back with a note as soon as I could and my friends back home started trying to reach me by sending people with Asa. None of them made it, except Luna," he patted her shoulder and smiled. "Oh, and by the way, Asa brought all Luna's things this morning," he added to Lily and James.

"Good, good," Lily smiled, but it didn't hide the obvious growing nervousness that was creeping across her face. "Well, why don't you tell the children your names and then we'll talk timelines?"

"Alright," Luna spoke for the first time. "My name is Luna Selena Lovegood. I am seventeen years old."

She looked at Harry who winced. "Thanks for making it oh-so-easy for me," he growled.

Lily laughed at him loudly. "And you're oh-so-welcome, my dear," she replied teasingly.

Harry snarled rather frighteningly. When he realised he's scared them, he hurriedly apologised. "So very sorry," he said quickly.

"It's a bad habit of his," Luna explained. "He's rather used to people responding to him, I suppose."

"I'm not obnoxious!" Harry argued.

"No, you're not," Luna agreed. "But you are very demanding. Nice, but very – maybe too – accustomed to being in charge and people trying to avoid upsetting you at all costs."

"Hey!"

"Just tell us your bloody name," Andy said irritably.

"Fine," Harry snapped. Sophie suddenly felt uneasy. She waited in silence for Harry to speak, but after ten seconds, when he still hadn't said anything, she got up and walked over to him.

"What's your name?" she asked him, sitting down on the sofa arm.

Harry looked at her sadly. "My name is Harry James Potter, and I turned eighteen years of age yesterday."

Sophie fell off the sofa.

* * *

What do you think? Review!

And thank you so much for all your reviews on Chapter 5! They were brilliant!

Chapter 7 should be up fairly soon - I'vealready started on it, so I'm hoping (crossed fingers)to updatein **less** than a month. If I haven't, feel free to review even more to remind me.

**Note:** I know I've used quite a few Aussie words in here, but I'm not sure what the word is in American English or British English. If you don't understand anything, I can explain it for you in a Review Reply (I hope - this is a girl whose parents are from the outback. I'm more prone to use Strine than most Melburnian kids). I have been trying quite hard for myslang to be internationally knownm, but I'm not confident I managed this.

Never mind - REVIEW PEOPLE!


	7. Chapter 7

Hi everyone! I'm back!

YAY!

Well, it's been a long time, huh? I'm soooooooooooooooooo sorry! It's my fault. I'm a lazy person. But remember, I'm not an adult! I'm a teenager... with school... and reports... and tests... and exams...

I'm still very, very, very, very sorry.

Anyway - here it is!

CHAPTER SEVEN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

Oh - Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter, cause if I did, I wouldn't be living in a townhouse in Melbourne, at the bottom of the world, would I? I'd be bidding on Buckingham Palace.**

CHAPTER SEVEN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! I already said that, didn't I... whoops...

* * *

Lily felt herself to be in a dream as Harry announced his name, floating above the scene as though it were not _her_ sitting down in that room. The only thing that awoke her was the tremendous crash when Sophie tumbled from the sofa arm. She was halfway out of her seat, when Sophie scrambled back to her feet, fast as lightening and James pulled Lily back down onto her seat.

Every face in the room was white with shock, except for the adults, Harry and Luna. Lily and Harry had identical expressions of apprehension, and when observed, it seemed almost like Harry no longer resembled his father, but his mother. It seemed odd to Natalia, who suddenly felt very separated from the group, that Lily and James' eldest son had inherited James's structure and general appearance, though it seemed emotionally, Harry was much like Lily.

Natalia grimaced at herself for becoming so philosophical. Her own mother had been a very intellectual woman and tried to imprint her personality on her children and in the end Natalia had sworn to herself that she would NEVER be a Ravenclaw or ever think deeply. Thus, she had ended up, to her Ravenclaw mother and Slytherin father's disappointment and horror, in Gryffindor, the house that never thinks. Her brother had ended up in Hufflepuff, a fact to which her father had despaired. Eventually he left her mother and married a witch by the name of Ingrid Pinkstone, the niece of a disowned member of the family who had campaigned to lift the Statute of Secrecy. Much to Natalia's father's relief, their daughters, Melissa and Erin had been sorted into Slytherin. Natalia knew Melissa, who was twenty-one and a nasty piece of work, was now a Death Eater. Erin, now approaching her twentieth birthday and a much friendlier girl, though she had immense ambitions, had vanished at the age of eighteen. Natalia strongly suspected her youngest half-sister had been taken by Melissa and blackmailed into joining the Death Eaters. Natalia felt suddenly very glad that she had never really seen Melissa grow up.

While Natalia succeeded in withdrawing from the scene unfolding in front of her; the rest of the room reacted, each in their own way. Sophie backed towards her eldest sister, Rose and squeezed into her chair. Rose hugged Sophie closely, her eyes glassy and her expression shocked as she gazed at Harry with an unseeing air, though it was perfectly clear she was seeing. Sophie began taking quick, short breaths through her nose and stiffening her limbs. Her jaw was shut firmly and she scrunched her eyes up as much as she could.

Nick's jaw dropped. He looked like he wanted to yell 'cool!' but one look from his mother shut him up before he had emitted a single sound. A moment later he was withdrawn.

Emily burst into tears. This seemed to awaken Andy from his own stunned daze. He stood up arrogantly, chin high in the air. When Lily sent him a warning look, he smirked at her.

"Don't worry, Mother," he said pompously. "I can handle this," he rounded on the still seated Harry. "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT YOU'RE MY DEAD BROTHER YOU FING BTARD! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW BIG A MISTAKE YOU'VE MADE MESSING WITH ME, ANDREW SIRIUS POTTER! YOU CAN BE SURE YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS! MY FAMILY IS VERY INFLUENTIAL AND BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY THAT IF I WANT I CAN HAVE FIFTY AURORS IN THIS ROOM IN TEN MINUTES TO ARREST YOU AND THEN SEND YOU TO AZKABAN! BECAUSE YOU WON'T BE GETTING AWAY WITH THIS, NO SIR! NO YOU WON'T! NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT! AND WHAT'S MORE -"

"_Silencio!_"

"_Petrificus Totalus!_"

Luna cast the Silencing charm first, with Natalia following, awoken from her own daze, with a Body-Bind. Andy still held a look of utter fury and arrogance in his eyes, so Harry pointed his own wand at his younger brother.

"_Stupefy._"

The jet of red light hit Andy dead on. His eyes closed instantly.

"And before you ask," Harry added as half the room began turning towards him with stern looks. "Yes, it was necessary."

(--)

Eight-year-old Burilda Urquhart wriggled miserably in her position under the sofa in her family's drawing room. She clutched her baby brother, Jonah, to her as she sobbed as quietly as she could. Her five-year-old sister, Irena, was clutching her sleeve tightly, whilst her four-year-old brother, Corbin, was curled into a ball and clinging desperately to her. Above the sofa, Burilda's thirteen-year-old brother, Darien, and her mother were bearing the brunt of her father's fury.

"A BOY!" Theseus Urquhart was screaming at Darien and Burilda's mother. "A MERE BOY COULD TURN A BATTLE LIKE THAT AROUND IN AN INSTANT! A BOY! DO YOU HEAR ME, MARIANA? A BOY, NOT MUCH OLDER THAN DARIEN AND HE CAN SLAUGHTER THE DARK LORD'S FORCES IN AN INSTANT! DO YOU HEAR ME, MARIANA?"

"Yes, Theseus," Mariana Urquhart replied trembling.

Burilda sniffled, as did her younger siblings. Even as young as they were, Irena and Corbin knew to keep quiet if they didn't want vase thrown at them. Baby Jonah, who was on fifteen months old, also managed to sense the atmosphere and kept quiet too. She, Jonah, Darien, Corbin, Irena and there mother had all been in the living room when her father had stormed down the hall screaming in fury.

"Hide, Burilda!" Mariana said instantly, handing her Jonah.

Burilda had taken her brother and dived under the sofa as fast as she could, followed by her terrified little brother and sister. Darien had refused to hide, determined to stay with his mother.

Then Theseus had burst in and become violent, making Mariana burst into tears and Darien cuddle up to her, something he hadn't done for years. And it wasn't until Mariana inquired into his obvious injuries, that Theseus had revealed the events of the night before.

"AND WHERE WERE YOU, MARIANA?" Theseus ranted on, pointing first at his left arm, then at Mariana's. "WHY ARE YOU NOT IN THE DARK LORD'S SERVICE, HUH?"

Mariana began weeping freely, as Theseus hit her cheek. Burilda knew the story. Theseus had married Mariana, straight out of Hogwarts. She had been a Ravenclaw, but an ambitious one, which led to her becoming part of the Slytherin crowd. Theseus asked her to marry him around Christmas their last year at school and they married in August. But Theseus then discovered some things about his new wife. She came from a very, very poor family that could only just pay for her education. And what's more, they weren't even pureblood. Her father had been the offspring of a pureblood cousin of the Crouchs' and the child of a muggleborn and a half-blood and her mother was the daughter of a man, whose mother was a squib and whose father was the twin of a muggleborn, and a woman who was the daughter of a son of a half-blood and muggleborn, and a distant, half-blood, child of a disowned squib from the Black family. Mariana had boasted of her relation to the Crouch and Black families and because she was beautiful, every Slytherin wanted her. However, a clever and ambitious girl, she had only dated very, very wealthy students. Theseus, a cousin of a Yaxley, who had married a rich wizard, then killed him, and then died herself, was the sole heir to a massive fortune, and Mariana, of a poor background had instantly fallen in love with his money.

When Theseus discovered this, he was furious, but unable to get rid of her because he needed an heir, a legitimate heir, and divorce wasn't recognised in pureblood traditions. Only when one spouse died, could the other one remarry and produce legitimate heirs by the pureblood system.

So, he decided to try and change her background. The Dark Lord, whom he joined a week after his seventeenth birthday, promised to rewrite her life, if she helped him conquer the world. But she refused to take the Dark Mark. Thus Theseus, who was forced to protect her as she was pregnant with Darien, lost all his favour with the Dark Lord, and now blamed much of what happened in his life on Mariana's failure to erase her past and join Voldemort.

Burilda sniffled again. It would be a long night.

(--)

"An innocent child," Narcissa smiled. "Rodolphus – I have it!"

"Have what?" Rodolphus said grumpily, glaring as he examined every name in the British Wizarding Birth records. He was searching for a boy, probably with Gryffindor heritage, born between the years 1980-1985. Each possible name, he wrote down on a long piece of parchment.

"The way to talk to this person!"

"Indeed?" Rodolphus growled sarcastically.

"Yes, I do," Narcissa smiled. "A small child, preferably a girl. Make her around the ages of six to nine. Old enough to know what she will be doing and not to do something stupid, but young enough not to raise suspicion. She must be of Dark descent."

"Naturally," he raised an eyebrow at her snidely.

"Do be quiet, or at least bearable," Narcissa hissed.

"It would be my Dark delight, Lady Malfoy," Rodolphus sneered.

"Thank you," she cut him off before he uttered another word. "As I was saying, it must be a small girl, Dark. She should be the daughter of a junior enough Death Eater to not be recognised as well."

"That goes without saying,"

Narcissa glared at him. "Trustworthy too," she insisted.

"Of course," he replied.

"Yes, yes," she muttered. "Now, let's see. She must be lost. Yes. And one of us must be polyjuiced, perhaps as a younger brother or sister. Yes, that's good. You shall be her little brother. And I shall polyjuice myself as the mother, and find you. You will have to question him carefully – nothing suspicious. I myself shall track you carefully and find you. I shall talk to him, you or the girl must break a vase or clock or something to distract him. I will then quickly incarcerate him, and any others in the room and we shall return to our Lord, triumphant!"

"I do believe that you may be onto something there, Cissy," Rodolphus said carefully. "Now all we need is the girl who has a brother. She shall know nothing of the plot so if he Legilimens' her, as he is sure to do, he won't uncover out plot."

"We have it!"

"But who shall the girl be? She must truly have a younger brother and a mother still alive to be fooled into doing this."

"Yes…" Rodolphus said. "I know who to ask," he added quietly.

"Who?"

"Do you remember that lower-ranked man boasting to some of the others that he had three sons, where as many people only have one?"

"I think I might…"

"And Myers shut him up, adding that he also had two small daughters, aged eight and five?"

"Was it about two weeks ago?"

"I believe so,"

"Yes, I remember," Narcissa said. "His name was Urquhart. Theseus Urquhart, that's it."

"Floo him,"

"Indeed I shall,"

Narcissa marched over to the fireplace, delicately shaking a handful of Floo powder into the fire.

"THESEUS URQUHART!" she thundered.

A man's angry face appeared.

"What?" he asked irritably.

Narcissa and Rodolphus gazed at him coolly, an eyebrow raised each. The man began to splutter.

"Mrs Malfoy! Mr Lestrange!" he choked. "An honour it is! Such an honour!" his head made rapid bowing motions.

"Come through, Urquhart," Rodolphus said to him calmly. "We do not wish to be overheard."

Urquhart began to look afraid. He stumbled through and emerged in the library where Narcissa and Rodolphus were working. He stood before them, trembling like a first-year waiting to be sorted.

"Do you seek the Dark Lord's favour, Urquhart?" Narcissa asked him, her eyes taking him in with disgust.

"Yes!" Urquhart replied, a little too fast and a little too loudly.

"Do you have an eight-year-old daughter?" Narcissa smirked.

"Burilda?"

"Is that her name?" Rodolphus inquired, almost amiably.

"Yes, Burilda is my eldest daughter. She is eight-years-old," Urquhart nodded fervently.

"That is good," Narcissa smiled, revealing perfect, white teeth. "And tell me, Urquhart; have you a son under the age of five?"

"Yes, milady, I have two," Urquhart answered. "Corbin is the elder, at four. Jonas is my youngest. He's one.

"Ah, very good," Narcissa nodded at him.

"I also have a thirteen-year-old son, Darien, and a five-year-old daughter, Irena," Urquhart added. "They –"

"We did not inquire as to your other offspring, Urquhart," Rodolphus cut him of swiftly. "I care nothing for them."

"Nor, I should think, do we care for Jonas," Narcissa added, sneering at Urquhart's stunned expression. "Too young, do you not agree, Rodolphus?"

"Indeed," Rodolphus snapped. "I care even less for nappies."

She laughed coldly.

"Urquhart, have you a wife?" she asked suddenly.

"Yes'm," he answered. "But I'm afraid she is not one of us."

"Excuse me?"

"She has not joined the Dark Lord's forces,"

"I see," Narcissa turned to Rodolphus. "Well?" she demanded.

"That is no bad thing, so far as I can see," he replied demurely.

"I beg your pardon!"

"This man – this boy, he will, in all probability, be able to tell if somebody has the Dark Mark,"

"A glamour charm?"

"He'll sense it, I'm sure,"

"Muggle make-up?"

"One – I could NEVER allow you to stoop so low, and two, the Dark Mark may well be picked up from under the make-up."

"Well…"

"He must be able to trust us!"

"I'm sure he will, but…"

"Why are we even talking about this, as the woman has no Dark Mark we need to worry about?"

"Maybe mine will show up even with the Polyjuice!"

"I doubt it,"

"But do you _know_?"

"No, I don't!"

"Then how can we be safe?"

"Like I said –"

"You doubt it, I know,"

"Yes, now be sensible,"

"Your Dark Mark may show up too!"

"And you think he'll check someone that age?"

"Maybe…"

"Honestly, Narcissa,"

"Well, I still don't know…"

"We will be fine!"

"Of course, Rodolphus,"

"Good to see you being sensible,"

"Sensible, my –"

"Narcissa!"

"Alright, alright!"

"Thank you,"

"But you do realise, if the Mark shows up, we will be absolutely done for! With a man like that…"

"Madam?" Urquhart asked tentatively.

"What?" she snarled.

"May I ask as to –"

"No, you –"

"Yes, you may," Rodolphus cut her off.

Narcissa growled.

"The Dark Lord has given us a mission," he continued, ignoring her. "I shall provide no details. They are unnecessary."

"Yes, sir,"

"Ensure you send some hair from your wife and son – Corbin – and bring the girl. Are we clear on this?"

"Yes,"

"Excellent," Narcissa hissed.

"Bring the hair and your daughter to us before dawn tomorrow," Rodolphus continued. "I trust you will not be late."

"No, sir," Urquhart said, looking excited. "Never!"

"Very good," Narcissa smirked.

"You understand that we cannot guarantee when your daughter will be returned to you?"

"Yes,"

"Wonderful," Rodolphus sneered.

"Oh, the Dark Lord shall reward her and you well for this service!" Narcissa exclaimed joyously.

Urquhart looked ready to dance for pleasure.

"Remember, the girl and the hair," Rodolphus said calmly.

"At the Malfoy Manor before dawn tomorrow," Narcissa added sweetly. "I will enjoy this very much."

Urquhart nodded, and disappeared through the Floo again.

"One question, m'dear," Rodolphus said suddenly.

"Yes?"

"How do we find him?"

"Wait until he uses the Floo, of course!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"The Floo!"

"The Floo?"

"Yes!"

"I don't understand,"

"You wouldn't, would you?"

"I still await an explanation,"

"Do you?"

"Yes!"

"Very well," Narcissa rolled her eyes.

"Do not do that!" Rodolphus snapped.

"Why ever not?"

"It is not befitting a Malfoy or a Black,"

"Of course not," she sneered.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"How do we find him?"

"We place a tracking spell –"

"On the Floo Network?"

"Yes,"

"How do you plan to do that?"

"Oh, really!"

"What?"

"My dear brother-in-law, this is sixth year magic!"

"Not the spell!"

"What then?"

"The magical signature you'll need to cast it!"

"Oh,"

"Oh?"

"Yes, oh," Narcissa snapped.

"Is 'oh' good or bad,"

"It's neither,"

"Excuse me?"

"It's just 'oh',"

"Oh, really?"

"OH, shut UP!"

"Narcissa!"

She glared at him.

"No need for a glare," he said smirking. "Well?"

"I duelled him,"

"Did you?"

"Yes,"

"I don't see how this helps,"

"He hit me with a spell,"

"And you plan on withdrawing the magical signature –"

"From that,"

"Very well,"

"It shouldn't be too difficult…"

"TOO DIFFICULT?!"

"Rodolphus?"

"It will take three hours, at least!"

"Then we'd best get started, hadn't we?"

"Hmph!"

"That does not befit a Lestrange, dear Rodolphus,"

"No, of course not," he glared.

"Let's begin,"

(--)

"BURILDA!"

Burilda woke with a start. Her father stood in the doorway, glaring at her.

"Father?"

"Get up,"

"Father?"

"GET UP!"

Burilda scrambled from her bed.

"Pack for about a month, and come down to the drawing room in half an hour," he left the room.

Half an hour later, Burilda stood in the drawing room, three bags under her arms, watching the pink on the far horizon. Theseus was nowhere to be seen.

"BURILDA!"

She started.

"Get some Floo!" he snapped. "Take these!" he shoved two jars into her hands. One was marked 'M' the other 'C'.

Burilda took the Floo, struggling with her bags and the jars.

"Say 'Malfoy Manor',"

"Malfoy Manor!"

WHOOSH!

Burilda spun out of her family home.

(--)

WHOOSH!

Narcissa watched disdainfully, as a small girl with brown hair and bright blue eyes came flying out of the fire.

"Urquhart?" she snapped.

The girl scrambled to her feet.

"IS YOUR NAME URQUHART?" Narcissa screeched, tired and annoyed.

"Yes, ma'am,"

"Good,"

Rodolphus stormed into the room. "Ah, she's here," he said.

"Yes," Narcissa nodded. "Now all we need is some of that polyjuice potion from Snape…"

"Stupid woman!" Rodolphus snapped.

"I beg –"

"Snape is dead!"

"He –"

"You know this!"

"I…"

"He was killed!"

"Killed?"

"His own curse,"

"That's suicide!"

"No, that person stopped the curse from hitting him, and turned it around! Snape was killed!"

"That's impossible!"

"I know!"

"But…"

"We've been through this before!"

"Have we?"

"YES!"

"I –"

"Oh, just shut up!"

"Excuse me!"

"You are incredibly stupid for a woman of your standing!"

"Rod –"

"SHUT UP!"

The little girl whimpered.

"Oh, you shut up too!" Rodolphus shouted.

"Yes, sir,"

"I DIDN'T SAY TALK BACK, DID I?"

"N-no…"

"Do you understand what shut up MEANS?"

"I…"

"No, you obviously don't!"

"…"

"Now give me the hair your father gave you!"

"Hair?"

"YES!"

"But I don't have any hair…"

"He gave you nothing?"

"No hair…"

"THAT STUPID MAN!"

"He may have put it in her bags," Narcissa said consolingly.

"I packed my bags," the girl said quickly.

"He put nothing IN THEM!"

"N-no,"

"HE GAVE YOU NOTHING! NOTHING!"

"He did give me two jars…"

"Give them to me!" Rodolphus screamed.

She handed them over shakily.

"THIS IS HAIR!" Rodolphus said, opening the jars. "YOU STUPID, STUPID LITTLE GIRL!"

She burst into tears.

"SHUT UP!"

"Rodolphus, just get some Polyjuice from Snape's stores!"

"WHAT DID I –"

"He's dead, I know!"

"EXACTLY!"

"But his stores don't just vanish because he dies do they?"

"I –"

"Just go and get some!"

"FINE!"

(--)

Over the next week, Harry kept himself to himself, living inside his new, very large, room in the Potter Manor, eating in the kitchens, and generally keeping himself to himself.

Luna did pretty much the same, though she worked to establish connections in the Potter family, unlike Harry, who only seemed interested in Sirius. Sirius, in turn, after welcoming Harry so warmly, and being incredibly friendly, had returning to mid-war mode and made little effort to get to know Harry or even be very friendly. He was very cautious.

Lily and James were kind to him still, but found it hard. The initial joy of having their son back had quickly fled, when they realised Harry and their little boy were very different people.

Harry's three sisters seemed more than happy to know him, and Harry did slowly begin to show some affection for them.

Andy always made it plain he hated Harry and wanted nothing to do with him, especially after Harry humiliated him in front of the entire of the Potter and Black families.

Nick was amiable. He made no effort to be Harry's friend, but in the same way, made no effort to be unkind or avoid him. It was clear to Harry and Luna that Nick was slightly in awe of Harry, but didn't want that to be noticed by anyone.

Dory and Chaz had had no contact whatsoever. Sirius, who was still apprehensive about Harry and been careful to keep his children away from 'that freaky dueller guy'. Natalia never objected, but she made an effort to be kind.

She was probably the only one.

(--)

Burilda had been at this strange, mean place for nearly three weeks. She had been kept near the fireplace, under the constant watch of two people, who had set up strange tracking spells on the Floo Network.

They had left her alone, feeding her when she needed it, providing her with a cot when she wanted to sleep, but other than that, she had had nothing. It was her worst nightmares come true.

At one point her little brother, Corbin, and her mother had appeared, but after an hour, they went away. They had ignored her, like she wasn't even there focusing on their left forearms.

"Can I go to bed?" she asked quietly.

The woman snapped around to look at her.

"Yes, go," she replied irritably, conjuring a cot.

"Sleep tight, Dark Angel," the man sneered.

Burilda whimpered and climbed into bed fearfully.

"He's never going to use the Floo," the woman's voice whispered, about ten minutes later.

"He will, don't worry," the man answered.

It was to the whispered arguments that Burilda finally slipped off into sleep.

(--)

Harry knew he was slowly going mad. He had cut off the rest of the world except for Asa, Hedwig and Sakima. Luna was consistently trying to communicate with him. Harry had ignored her entirely. He had stopped talking to his family and the Blacks completely. He had even refused to have anything to do with Dobby or Kreacher, after telling them to act as normal Potter house elves.

Needless to say, neither of them had been very happy about that.

Harry knew he was in a withdrawal period. He needed Ginny and Mrs Weasley. He needed Ron and Hermione. The war was over in his world. Now Harry was feeling the true weight of everyone who had died.

He also had no idea what to do with himself. Sure he could get involved in the war here, but in all honesty, he didn't want to. He had been a warrior. He had served his purpose. He wanted to move on with his life. Get married, have a family and just be happy!

It wasn't to be.

Harry got up suddenly. He needed to get out. He needed to go home.

"Asa!" he called.

The imperial bird gazed at him questioningly.

"Take me home," he pleaded.

Her eyes showed shock and sorrow.

"Asa?"

Asa turned her back on him.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Harry screamed. "Asa, don't you understand? I can't stay here! I have to go home!"

The bird looked over her shoulder.

"Please, Asa," he begged.

With what seemed to be a sigh, she flew over to him and landed on his shoulder. Harry felt relief flood through his veins. With a wave of his wand, he gathered all his belongings and made sure he was touching everything.

With a flash, Harry James Potter was gone from that world for good.

And somewhere across the manor, Luna Lovegood suddenly knew that she was all alone.

THE END

(--)

A/N: I'm not that mean…

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Harry screamed. "Asa, don't you understand? I can't stay here! I have to go home!"

She kept her back to him.

"Please, Asa!"

No response.

Harry was incensed. Asa, sensing danger, vanished in a ball of fire. It only served to infuriate him further. The bedside lamp was flung across the room. It was shortly followed by all the china in the room.

After a good ten minutes, he stormed across the room and threw open the door. He took no notice of the stares he earned as he marched towards the family Floo connection. He grabbed a fistful.

"The Three Broomsticks!" he shouted.

WHOOSH!

(--)

CRASH!

BANG!

THUD!

Emily jumped at each noise. She was in her little hidey-hole, an old schoolroom where her father had been educated before Hogwarts. It was poorly kept, as her father had despised his teacher, an old squib who had gotten a muggle university degree and permanently resented every single witch and wizard because they had been magical and she wasn't.

CRASH!

Emily couldn't imagine what the noise was. The only other person who ever came to this part of the manor was Harry…

Emily jumped up and ran to the door. Harry stomped past just as she did. Surprised, she followed him.

He disappeared through the Floo to the Three Broomsticks. Curiously, she followed. When she arrived at the other end, she saw him purchasing several bottles of firewhisky. She queued up behind him and bought a butterbeer before retreating to a corner table to watch him.

It didn't look like he was doing much except drinking. After the fifth bottle Emily had to admit he could hold his alcohol well. Very well. He didn't even look the slightest bit tipsy. It wasn't until he was halfway through bottle number nine that he wobbled a little. He downed the tenth in only two gulps.

It was then Emily realised that Harry, the big, strong, Voldemort-Vanquishing Harry, was crying. She didn't dare approach him. He jumped up to buy another round of firewhiskey. Emily followed, deciding to buy another butterbeer as well. She had finished her first a while before.

Madam Rosmerta glared at Harry as he asked for another ten firewhiskeys.

"Not for you," she said. "You look like you've already had at least four!"

Harry snorted.

Emily giggled.

"Two then," Harry begged.

"Two firewhiskeys coming up," Rosmerta banged them on the counter. "And not a drop more, mind you!" she waggled her finger.

"Can I have another butterbeer, please?" Emily asked quietly.

"Yes, of course, dear," Rosmerta smiled. "But be gone before, love, or you'll be caught up with the night crowd. I doubt your mother and father will be happy about that!"

"Yes, Madam Rosmerta," she took her butterbeer and hurried back to her table, where Harry was gulping down the last of his first firewhiskey.

Emily listened as he began muttering to himself.

'Damn Asa, damn everyone!" he growled. "Nobody left to talk to… Nobody who cares. Everyone gone. All of them. What can I do?"

Emily choked on her butterbeer. Did Harry really feel so abandoned? Well, he couldn't blame her family… could he? After all, they had all basically dropped him after the honeymoon period with him.

By now Harry was nearly finished his last butterbeer.

"I need to talk to Ginny. I need Ginny. I need someone…" he mumbled.

Emily started.

He jumped to his feet and ran to the fireplace, Emily hot on his heels.

"The Burrow!" he cried.

Emily followed suit.

She came flying through the connection, but no sooner had she crashed onto the Burrow's kitchen floor than another girl came tumbling out on top of her, holding a little boy's hand.

(--)

"I'VE PICKED HIM UP!" Narcissa screamed in joy.

"Where is he going?" Rodolphus yelled, reaching for some polyjuice potion. "Quickly now!"

"Oh, no…"

"What?"

"He's gone to the Three Broomsticks!"

"So?"

"That place will be far too crowded!"

"SHT!"

"I know," Narcissa sighed.

"Now what?"

"We have to wait for him to come back through the Floo,"

By now Burilda had woken. She knew it couldn't be very long since she'd gone to bed as the sun had barely set.

"Excuse me…" she began.

Rodolphus turned to here. "_Obliviate! Stupefy!_"

Narcissa looked at him in surprise.

"We can wake her when he comes back and she won't remember us until she sees us again. By the time she awakens, you and I will both be in our disguises," he answered the unasked question.

"Ah,"

Twenty minutes later the alarms went off again.

"The Burrow!" Narcissa called.

As one, she and Rodolphus swallowed their potions. Ten seconds later, Narcissa awoke Burilda, disguised as her mother.

"Mummy?" Burilda said in surprise.

"Yes, dear," Narcissa said, smiling. "You silly girl, you fell asleep! Come now, do you want to go shopping or not?"

"Yes!"

"You take Corbin, alright?"

"Alright,"

Narcissa put the powder in. "The Burrow," she said clearly, but too quietly for Burilda or Rodolphus to hear. "Off you go," she said. "I'll be along shortly!"

Burilda stepped in.

"Bye!" Narcissa smiled.

WHOOSH!

* * *

Cliffies are an authors best friend.

Apologies if it isn't the best I've done. A lot of the bad guys, I know. And a Mary-Sue family! I will strive to make them as un-Mary-Sue-ish as I can.

REVIEW!


End file.
